Silent Lights in the Darkness
by xGaz.the.Halfx
Summary: KH2 w an OC. Prequal: Twilight Town gets some excitment after a boring vacation for Roxas and the gang. The summer heats up for a lonely girl, and a certain Roxas. Precious times for friends end, along with many thoughts and feelings with them. UPDATES!
1. Chapter 1: The First Day

_Silent Lights in the Darkness_

_**Here is some background info about your character:**_

_**Name: Ashe (Ah-she)**_

_**Age:15**_

_**Hometown: You mysteriously washed up on the beaches of Twilight Town, where Roxas and his friends saved you. Out of all of them, Roxas had taken you under his wing.**_

_**Appearence: A faded black-grey sweater-tee shirt with black sleeves. There is a picture of a red asterick on it. The shirt stops just above your belly button. A red, plaid half-skirt and baggy worn, faded jeans. A single black belt hangs off your side with a pouch attached. Black converse. When you first came to Twilight Town, Roxas gave you his jacket, so the one he wears now is a spare. Bleach blonde hair thats layered (it's spikey at the layered part) Byed black roots and shadowed. Goes down to about the bottom of your shoulderblades, maybe 3 or 4 inches more. You have heterochromatic irises, meaning both of your eyes are different colours. (This case being one is turquoise, and the other is emerald green.)**_

_**Personality: You're really shy, except around your friends. Pampered on the outside, your as hard as nails on the inside, making this good when you and the gang go against Seifer and durring the Struggle match. You also like to crack a joke every once and a while. You like everyone to be happy. Sometimes, things get tough, and you feel like only Roxas understands you. Though, your a little more than clumsy...**_

_**Family: Is all a mystery. You don't remember anyone from your family, only your twin brother, who has yet to be found.**_

_**Dreams: Your dream is to one day meet your father and twin brother, whom you were seperated from at birth.**_

_**Other: You are an outsider to most of Twilight Town, so not everyone except your friends accept you. But Seifer still tries to get you to join his gang. **_

She stood alone, waiting for the night to end. The midnight breeze relaxed her, and the new moon cast a glow onto the dark ocean, giving it a familliar shine.

The waves crashed against the shores on the beach below the grassy, rolling hills.

Watching and waiting, it seemed as though morning would never come. Staring off into the silvery moon for the rest of her life.

She may never see her brother.

"Ashe." she heard.

She turned around to face the voice. It was her closest friend, Roxas.

He walked closer to her and stood on her left side. They stood together, as the black clouds shifted ever so slowly and the stars followed the horizon wherever it lead them.

"You'll find him one day." Roxas said.

Ashe was speechless. It took her a few moments to find the right words to tell him.

"Roxas.. how do you know him? I've never told anyone about-"

"Your brother?" He finnished.

Her eyes widened as she took a slow, steady breath.

"How do you know about him?" She repeated.

"I don't." Roxas responded.

"What?"

He turned to face her and smiled. His ocean blue eyes seemed to fill her with happiness.

"This is a dream... remember?"

-----

I shot up in my bed, tangled in the blankets wrapped around my body.

I stretched my arm to the back of my head and scratched my neck.

"Whoa... how weird..."

Then I suddenly remembered something.

"Oh, crap! The orientation is today!"

I jumped from my bed and rushed over to my buearu. I opened the light, oak-colored doors, and inside were 3 short-sleeved, silk, white school blouses.

In the drawers under it, were my blue, light blue and white plaid skirts. My matching tie was tangled on my nightstand, from practicing to getting back in the habit of tying it.

_'School uniforms suck...'_ I thought. _'Espically when they look like this...'_

I pulled off my nightshirt and got dressed for the orientation that my school had planned.

I suddenly heared a knock at the door and I jumped.

"J-Just a second!" I shouted. I grabbed my yellow, one strapped backpack and shoved a make-up bag in it. Olette wanted me to do her make-up before we went to the school.

I grabbed my CD player and shoved it in my bag along with my journal and a pen.

Then I grabbed my house keys and walked out the door to find Pence and Olette standing in front of me.

"Hiya, Ashe!" Pence greeted.

I suddenly laughed. "I forgot what such a dork you look like in that uniform, Pence!"

Olette giggled and pointed to the bag. "Did you remember the stuff?" She asked.

I nodded, but my happy mood changed to angered when I looked at Pence again.

"It's not fair you guys can choose whatever pants you want and we're stuck with these lame-o skirts every day." I said.

Pence quickly changed the subject. "So uh, Roxas and Hayner are waiting at the usual spot. We should get back. We've got about an hour or so before the orientation starts."

"Okay." Olette and I said. Then we all went off to the usual spot.

_- The Usual Spot-_

Me, Pence and Olette walked in as Roxas and Hayner were playing a regular game of darts.

"It's about time you showed up." Hayner said. "I thought i'd never see you again if you were picking up Ashe, cause she takes forever to get ready..."

"Here we go..." Pence whispered to Olette.

Me and Hayner always argued about the stupidest, and the littlest things. According to our friends, the fights were as predictable as gravity, very often, and they seemed to be entertaining.

I licked my lips and made a smacking sound with them. "You know what?" I asked.

I snatched a dart from Hayners hand and threw it at the bullseye that he'd been trying to get the past few days.

"Face!" I laughed.

Hayner rolled his eyes. "Lucky shot...!" He said angrily.

"Lucky or not, I still got it and you didn't, admit it!" I shot back.

"I don't have to admit anything." He said.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, except that your listening skills suck."

"Excuse me? I listen just fine." Hayner said.

I faked a laugh. "HA!" And I walked closer to him and popped his collar on his white shirt. "No tie, eh?... So, you're still not listening."

Hayner hit my hand away from his body. "Just so you know, I CHOOSE not to wear the stupid tie."

I smiled quirkily and rocked back and fourth on my heels. "Uh huh... suuure..." I said sarchastically.

Hayner was now short on words. "Yeah? Well, Roxas isn't wearing his dumb tie and you're not getting on his case about it!"

That made me madder than anything Hayner had said today. "Don't bring poor Roxas into this, it's your fault!" I poked his chest knocking him off-balence.

Hayner shoved up the sleeves that went slightly past his elbows up to his shoulders. "Now you're just asking for it, Ashe!"

"Bring it on, 'bad boy'!"

Olette came in between us and pushed us apart. "Okay, guys. Thats good, Ashe and I are busy anyway."

Hayner and I were set in a glare before I swiped my thumb across my nose, a symbol to me as, 'This isn't over'. And walked to my favorite couch with Olette.

_-Me and Olette-_

"This is all his fault and everyone knows it..." I mumbled to Olette as I started applying eye liner to her eyes.

She sighed, as she always did when Hayner and I fought. "It's no one's fault, Ashe." she whispered.

We were trying to keep our voices down so the boys' wouldn't hear us.

"No, he always starts everything and we end up fighting..." I clenched my teeth. "He makes me so mad i could just-"

"Ow!" Olette cried. I pulled my hand away from her face as she blinked rapidly.

"What?" I asked concerned.

Olette laughed lightly. "You went a little overboard with the eye pencil..." she said.

_'Crap,'_ I thought. _'I must've poked her eye.'_

"Y'all right?" I asked her.

She nodded and smiled. We both continued.

I put away the eye liner, thinking that'd probably be enough for today.

Olette tried to cheer me up, as usual. "Listen, Ashe... you and Hayner always fight, and you may think it's the worst thing in the world, but if you look at it another way, you and Hayner are really close."

I raised one of my eyebrows. "Heh?"

"Yeah. You and Hayner have a special relationship that the rest of us don't. You're closer to him than you think."

"Really?" I asked.

Olette nodded as I pondered. I finally came to the conclution that it could, in fact, be possible and smiled.

"I guess your right." I said.

She smiled and said, "That's better. Now let's finnish this before we gotta go. Pence said we got a half-hour left when we came in."

"Okay..." I mumbled as I glanced over at Hayner.

_- Roxas, Hayner and Pence-_

Hayner threw a dart at the dartboard and it landed on the 2. "She's so uptight, isn't she?"

Roxas and Pence looked at each other. No doubt they were both think the same thing. 'Hayner, you're an idiot.'

"Hell-o...?" Hayner said more angrily.

"You're just mad, dude. Ease up on Ashe just a little bit." Roxas said.

"Why should I?" Hayner retorted. "She started it, she always starts it..."

"Uhh..." Pence uttered.

"What is it now?" Hayner asked.

Pence sighed. "You kinda started it, Hayner."

Hayner seemed taken aback, not usually blamed for the arguments. "What?"

Roxas stepped closer to Hayner. "You heard him. You're just mad you didn't get the last word in."

Hayner clenched his fists around the darts. "I'm not mad 'cause of that! I don't always have to get the last word in!"

Roxas narrowed his eyebrows. "Yeah, you do. You always do"

"I do not! I--" Hayner stopped. He knew he'd only be proving Roxas's point, which made him angrier that he was wrong.

He mumbled some words to himself that no one heard and threw a dart hard at the wall, where it got stuck.

Hayner growled, but something hit him on the back of the head.

"Ow..." he said, and looked around for whatever hit him. When he looked down, he saw an ice-cream bar.

He wondered who threw it, then he saw me throw one to Roxas and one to Pence, and I handed one to Olette before grabbing one for myself.

I looked at Hayner, innocence drowning in my 'unique' eyes. When I spoke, there was a mixture of sadness and apology, and I could almost bet Hayner saw it. "It's sea-salt... you like it..."

Hayner looked at me for a moment before picking up the ice cream. Roxas the crossed his arms in front of Hayner.

"Feel bad, now that she still gives you something even though you treat her like dirt?"

He was silent. He all of a sudden tore the wrapper off the ice cream bar and stuck it in his mouth. "No." He said flatly.

But he didn't fool Roxas, or Pence, or Olette. He didn't even fool himslef. He was only able to fool me.

_- Usual Spot: After Orientation-_

I walked in first, and threw my bag by the sofa before plopping down on it. I brought my hands behind my head and sighed.

"What a day. That speech that Mr. Keryagi gave was like, over 2 hours." I said tiredly.

Roxas came in after me, and sat down next to me on the couch. "Seriously."

I punched his shoulder with a laugh. "How would you know? You, Pence and Hayner slept the entire time!"

Olette and Pence walked in. "You fell asleep too, Ashe." Olette said.

My head sunk into my neck. "Only for about 20 minutes..." And my voice trailed off.

"Try 45." She corrected with a laugh.

I looked around the room. "Hey, where's Hayner?" I asked.

Roxas rubbed his chin. ".. He said he wanted to be alone for a while."

I rolled my eyes and crossed my legs. "Than that means he's at the station tower."

"We should leave him alone." Pence said.

But I hatched an idea too good to pass up. I leaped from the couch and grabbed my backpack and ran for the door.

Roxas, Pence and Olette blocked my path. "Where do you think you're going?" Olette asked.

_'Uh oh...'_ I thought.

I tried to give a believeable smile, but no luck. Those darn eyes of mine gave me away. I even shrugged for special effect. Those darn eyes.

Roxas shook his head. "Just leave Hayner alone. He probably feels bad enough for what happened this morning."

I bit my bottom lip. "Aw, come on guys. I gotta get home... pleeeeease...?"

I clasped my fingers and quivered my lip. Roxas's emotion lightened.

"Okay, but i'll go with you."

_'Crap.'_ I thought.

Roxas moved away from the door and we walked out together torwards my house, while Olette dragged Pence to go shopping with her.

"Uh, Roxas...?" I said.

He raised his eyebrows and mumbled. "Hm?"

"Do you think maybe, we could stop at the accessory shop? In the Tram Common?"

"Why do you need to go there?" He asked.

I had to think of a good excuse, and fast. I then pulled a pendant from my neck.

"I was gonna ask Jessie to polish this for me, I just know i'll mess it up."

Roxas shrugged. "I guess so."

_'Score!'_ I thought. _'Now to get Hayner.'_


	2. Chapter 2: The Second Day

_Silent**Lights**in**the**Darkness_

_chapter 2_

I walked with Roxas down the slope to the Tram Common. Trying to get to Hayner could be a little difficult, but it was the only way I could think of to get Roxas off my back.

I tapped Roxas on the shoulder. "Uh, Roxas?" I asked.

"Hm?" he mumbles.

I unhooked the chain that held the pendant around my neck and dropped it in his hand. "Could you take it to Jessie for me? I have something I gotta do."

Roxas raised one of his eyebrows. "And how do I know you won't go off and annoy Hayner?" He said with a smile.

"Aw, come on Roxas! Don't 'cha trust me?" I asked.

He crossed his arms, holding the necklace. "I dunno." He poked me on the forehead. "You have a knack for kicking Hayner when he's down."

_'Hmph... this'll be harder than I thought...'_ I thought. Then, it hit me.

"Oh, no! I left my journal at the usual spot! I gotta go and get it before Hayner or Pence get ahold of it!" I began to run torwards the usual spot, but Roxas grabbed my arm.

"I don't think so..." He said. "I'LL go get it." He gave me back the pendant and ran to the usual spot.

_'Yes...'_ I thought. _'It worked.'_

_- Station Tower-_

I watched from behind the East wall as Hayner sighed, slowly eating another ice cream bar. He had already gone home and changed into his regular clothes.

He looked a little...

...sad.

_'We've fought before. Alot of times... but he's never acted like this. Ever since this morning he's totally avoided me. Was it really that big of a fight?' _I thought.

I swallowed my pride and revealed my presence to Hayner.

"Suprise?" I said with a shrug.

He looked up for a second and focused back to the town.

I walked over to him and sat down.

"About this morning..." I said. He looked at me, a little interested to what I had to say, for once.

"I guess, i'm sorry." I said. I tucked a stray blond strand behind my ear and faced away from him.

"You just seemed a little off today. T-The whole thing was my fault..."

I looked back over at him and his expression lightened. "I don't need your dumb apology." He said.

"Here."

He held up an ice cream for me. I smiled and took it. "Thanks."

"Yeah, yeah. I had a feeling you'd be coming anyway."

"So. What are we doing tomorrow?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I dunno. Whatever comes up I guess."

I dangled my feet off the side of the tower. "Okay... Hayner, what are you looking at?"

"Roxas is coming. He looks kinda mad."

_'Oh...'_

_-The Next Morning-_

I shot up from my bed. The same dream from the night before. "... The same one?..." I asked myself. I shrugged it off and got dressed in my street clothes.

I yawned as I put up my hair. According to Olette, doing your hair can be troublesome, but it's fun and it kills time. Although, I usually just brush it out for a long time, making it look shiney.

When I finnished, I walked out the door and headed into the woods. I lived near that old, haunted mansion. It kind of freaked me out sometimes.

I was alone, so I started singing. It was just a song that popped into my head from nowhere. I knew I had heard it before, but I couldn't remember exactly where I learned it from.

_"I think you know what i'm getting at, I find it so upsetting that, the memories that you select, you keep the bad but the good you just forget..."_

I quieted my singing and stuck my head out of the hole in the wall that lead to my house.

I didn't see anybody in the Common, so I just kept singing. I hopped on my red and black skateboard and headed for the usual spot.

_"And even though i'm angry I can still say, I know my heart will break the day, when you peel out and drive away, I can't believe this happend..."_

I rode up the slope and did tried a kickflip, which I landed perfectly. Roxas taught it to me when I first got my board a month or two ago.

_"And all this time I never thought, that all we've had would be all for not. No I don't hate you, don't want to fight you, know i'll always love you but right now I just don't like you..."_

I kicked up my board and walked into the usual spot. Hayner was getting ready to talk. It felt kinda weird that I couldn't remember the chorus to that song. I was usually good at remembering stuff like that.

"It's about time you showed up!" He said. "There's somethin' we're talkin about."

I nodded, and took a seat on a crate next to Roxas.

Hayner looked at Pence. "Man, doesn't that tick you off?"

Pence nodded. "Yeah, thats just wrong."

Olette shook her fists. "Seifer's gone too far this time!"

_'Ohh...'_ I thought. _'They must be talking about how Seifer thinks we stole that stuff...'_

Hayner jumped from the furnace-like machine he was sitting on and crossed his arms.

"I mean, it's true that stuff's been stolen around town... and we gotta score to settle with Seifer and everything,-"

Then I cut in. "But if he wants to think we did it, we can't really blame him."

Hayner turned and faced me. "Yeah, but 'ya see, thats not what really bugs me. What REALLY bugs me, is that he's 'goin around tellin' everyone we're the theives! Have you ever been this ticked off in your entire life? 'Cause I haven't. Nuh-uh, NEVER!"

He sighed. "Now... what to do..."

I popped my fingers. "I've got a pretty good idea!"

Roxas looked up. "Well, we could find the real theives. That would set the record straight."

I smiled. _'Heh, sleuthing around seems kinda cool. Espically if it means snooping in on Seifer...'_

"Hey, that sounds fun!" Pence said.

"But what about Seifer?" Hayner asked.

Roxas stood up as we walked torwards the door.

"First, we gotta clear our names. Once we find the real culprit, everyone will get off our backs."

"Oh, no!" Pence shouted. He was holding our camera. "Our -------- are gone!" He stopped, puzzled. He held his throat.

Hayner narrowed his eyes. "All our -------- gone?... huh?" Hayner did the same.

Olette jumped up. "You can't say, --------? Why not?"

"But you DO understand what i'm saying, right?" Pence asked. "Our -------- are gone!"

"Yeah, and not just the --------," Roxas said.

I nodded. "The word, --------! They stole it too!"

Hayner looked confused. "Huh? What kind of theif is that? Seifer could never have pulled that off."

Roxas agreed. "Yeah!"

We all ran for the door. "All right, time for some recon!" Hayner said.

Roxas was following me, but he suddenly stopped and fell.

_- Another Place...-_

_"His heart is returning... doubtless, he'll awaken very soon..."_

_-The Usual Spot-_

Roxas slowly got up and rubbed his head. I came back to get him.

"Roxas, c'mon!"

_-Tram Common-_

Roxas and I made our way to the armor shop, where Hayner was calling us.

"Let's get this investigation underway!" I said, jumping up and down.

"Yo, Roxas." We turned to see the shopkeeper talking to him. "Never thought you'd do such a rotton thing..."

"Hey!" I exclaimed.

"We didn't steal anything, alright?" Roxas explained.

The shopkeeper seemed kinda doubtful. "I'd like to believe you, but who else would steal that stuff?"

"Huh? What stuff?" Roxas asked.

The shopkeeper rolled his eyes. "As if you didn't know. Hey, i'm not gonna tell you, go ask the accessory shop."

We all turned and made our way to Jessie's Accessory shop.

_- Accessory Shop-_

Hayner and I pushed Roxas to the counter. "Go on, Roxas. Ask her."

Jessie looked up. "Oh, hello Roxas. Please don't let me down. You used to be one of my favorite customers."

Roxas looked insulted. "Hey! I'm not a theif!"

Jessie believed him. "Okay."

"It's not fun having everyone suspecting me, ya know." Roxas mumbled.

"You 4 gotta find a way to clear your names. The woman at the candy shop is pretty disapointed too."

Hayner, Pence, Olette and Roxas ran to the candy shop while I stayed behind and talked to Jessie.

"W-what about me, Jessie?" I asked.

"Hm?"

"You said the 4 of you, what about me?"

Jessie ignored me. Like everyone else in this town.

I looked down for a moment, but caught up with my friends when they called me.

_-Candy Shop-_

"Oh, hello Roxas. Have you seen my cat around?" The woman behind the counter asked.

Roxas looked up on the awning of the store. "Uhh..." He said.

I jumped up and handed the woman her cat. "Here you go, little guy..." I cooed, lightly petting the kittens head.

The old woman rudely said, "Thank you." And turned back to Roxas.

"Did they steal something from you, too?" Roxas asked her.

The woman nodded. "Oh, yes. Something important."

"Just so you know, we didn't do it. " Roxas imformed her.

She nodded. "I believe you."

"What did they steal from you?" Roxas asked.

"My --------. My precious --------..."

Hayner stepped up. "Looks like the culprit is going around stealing --------. And not just --------, but the word -------- too."

"This is no ordinary theif." Pence said.

"I wonder if Seifer has anything to do with this?" Olette asked.

"Only one way to find out..." I said.

Roxas ran in front of us. "To the sandlot!"

_-The Sandlot-_

We all walked up to Rai, Fuu and Vivi. They turned around to face us.

"Theives!" Fuu cried.

"That was low, ya know?" Rai said, shaking his fists.

"Oh, yeah?" Hayner said.

"Nice comeback there, blondie." I heard.

It was none other than Seifer, head of the Twilight Town disiplinary commitee, and my worst enemie.

"Wha's you say?" Hayner said.

"Takes one to know one, Seifer!" I retorted.

Hayner growled at them.

"You can give us back the -------- now..." Seifer said.

Rai backed him up. "Yeah, you're the only ones who would take 'em, ya know?"

Seifer walked up to the front of his crew. "That was undeniable proof that we totally owned you lamers. So wha'd you do? Burn it? Ha, not that we need some -------- to proove that your losers. But, if Ashe is willing to recruit..."

"Not on your life!" I shouted back.

"Replay!" Fuu said.

Seifer laughed. "Now you're talking! I guess if you get on your knees and beg, MAYBE- i'll let the comment your little castaway friend said, slide."

Now, I was pissed. I was ready to just beat Seifer on the back of the head with a stick.

Roxas walked up to Seifer and got down. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

"Roxas!" I shouted.

He looked up at me. Then at the Struggle weapons in front of him. He ran to the center one and picked it up, ready to fight.

I couldn't just sit there and let Roxas do this alone, I remembered what happened last time.

I ran up to the weapon on the right, the one with the hand guard, and picked it up.

"Ashe? What are you doing?" Roxas asked.

"You didn't think you could kick Seifer's butt without me, did you?" I asked with a smile.

He nodded, and focused back at Seifer.

"You'll regret the day you declined my offer, Ashe!" Seifer shouted.

He ran at Roxas at full speed, and prepared to hit him with everything.

But I ran in front of him and blocked Seifer, placing the weapon long-ways to keep him from moving.

I pushed on the weapon, Seifer's strength overpowering my own. "Heh... get real Seifer. You can't win against us..."

I pulled the weapon back and Seifer lost balence. He stumbled foreward and Roxas swong at him from the front, and I hit him from the back.

Seifer ran to the side and held up the struggle sword.

"Come on. Quit playin' around and fight!" He said.

My vision was getting blurred, but I shook my head and ran for him as fast as I could, weapon pulled back.

I was confident Seifer wouldn't stand a chance against us.

_-After the Fight-_

As I had hoped, Seifer lost the battle.

I cheered as Roxas looked slightly pleased.

Rai, Fuu, and Vivi ran to Seifer's defence.

"Seifer's not feelin' so hot, ya know?" Rai said.

"Tournament decides." Fuu said.

I jumped up and wrapped my arms around Roxas's shoulders in a hug. "Roxas, we were awesome!" I said happily.

He smiled and faced Pence, who was taking a picture of the both of us beating Seifer.

He gave us a thumbs up. Undeniable proof that we beat those lamers.

But out of nowhere, a white creature wrapped it's body around Pence and stole the camera. "Wha--!?"

The creature ran away from us in the other direction.

"What was THAT?" Hayner asked in disgust.

"The theif?" Olette asked.

I narrowed my eyes and growled. "It's headed for the woods!"

_- The Woods-_

"Roxas, it's headed torwards the mansion!" I pointed straight ahead and followed him to the mansion gates where the white-clothed theif was standing.

I ran behind it, while Roxas got it from the front.

But I went right throught it and knocked heads with Roxas. "Ow! What the he-" I rubbed my head and the white creature spoke.

_'We Have Come For You, My Lieges...'_

My eyes grew wide. "Huh? W-What's that mean?" I asked.

Roxas shrugged. "I don't know. But we better get rid of this thing..."

The struggle weapons appeared and we began to fight the white creature with everything we had, but just like a ghost, our blows went right throught it.

"It's no use!" Roxas shouted.

With a flash of light, a blade shaped like a key appeared in my hand. A bunch of pixels transformed Roxas's struggle sword into a key-shaped blade as well.

The blade was going crazy. Like a magnet, it pointed to the white creature.

"Wha--?" I mumbled.

"What is this thing?" Roxas asked.

We looked at each other, confused by the new weapons in our hands.

I growled at the white creature, and ran for it with a battlecry. I swooshed the blade and the white thing disapeared with a blue light.

Where it once stood, the pictures fell. I tucked a layered, spikey strand behind my ear and picked up one of them. Roxas picked up another. We looked at them before picking them all up to take to show the others.

_-The Usual Spot-_

All of us were looking at the pictures that Roxas and I had retrived from the white-clothed creature.

"What's this?" Hayner asked.

It was a picture of Roxas and the shopkeeper from earlier. "I was his first customer when he took over the shop. So we took a picture together." Roxas told him.

"It's a really nice photo...oh!" Olette held her throat, as though she'd never uttered the word 'photo' before.

"Hey!" Pence exclaimed. "You just said, 'photo'!"

"So Roxas, Ashe- tell us about the picture theif." Hayner said.

Roxas shook his head. "Not much to say. The pictures were just lying there." He said

"Yeah, almost like they belonged to that theif."I told them.

Hayner punched his chest. "Then how do we prove we weren't the ones who took 'em?" He asked. He held up another picture. It was a picture of me and Roxas.

I was giving him a hug, among other things, and he was smiling at me.

"Heh, it's Ashe..." Hayner said.

"You look happy Roxas." Olette joked.

"Do not." He said.

I just smiled, took it as a joke, and moved on.

Pence was staring at another picture. "So, like, anybody else notice that all the stolen pictures are of Ashe and Roxas?" He asked.

"You mean, Seifer didn't go around accusing us after all?" Hayner asked.

I crossed your arms. "That seems a little too good to be true..."

Roxas looked down at the pictures. "Are they really all of us?" he asked.

"Yeah, see?" Pence said, holding up a picture of Roxas eating an ice cream with the old lady at the candy shop.

"And this..." Hayner showed them a picture of Ashe fighting with Seifer.

"Yep, every last one!" Olette said, holding the pic of the 5 of you in front of the old mansion.

"Wouldn't it be weird if the theif wanted to steal the REAL Roxas and Ashe or something?" Pence asked.

Hayner laughed. "Get serious. What would anyone want with a bonehead like Roxas and an annoyance like Ashe?"

"Oh, thanks!" Roxas said. I punched Hayner's arm. "Shut up!"

We all laughed as a train rolled by above our heads.

_-Another Place-_

"Organization miscreints... they've found us." A voice said.

"But, what would the Nobodies want with photographs?" The second voice was like an echo.

The first voice said, "Both are nothing but data to them. The fools could never tell the difference... we're running out of time. Ashe must make haste. If she cannot find the hidden light within her heart in time, Sora cannot be released..."

_-The next Morning-_

I was walking alone, just admiring the colors of the early morning. For the rest of the day, it would seem like Twilight, so seeing the sunrise was often rare for me, espically since I lived in the dark forest.

I strolled near the Usual Spot, and picked up a stick that was lying on the side near a wall.

A boys' voice echoed through my head.

_'A keyblade...'_

I stared at the twig, eyes squinted. Then I raised an eyebrow.

"A key... blade?"

Out of nowhere, the stick flashed, and, for an instant, I was able to see an image of the keyblade I held durring the fight against the creature.

It was different from Roxas's, more detailed. It was silver, yellow-gold, and had a heartogram on it. It was awesome, and unique. Just my style.

"Keyblade..." I repeated, and messed around with the twig.

I rolled rolled eyes. "What was that all about?" I threw threw the stick behind me, but when I didn't hear it hit the wall behind me, I turned around.

I had hit a person in a long, black trenchcoat.

"Oh! Sorry! I didn't see you...-"

The person seemed fine, but walked away without saying a word.

"-...there..."

Next chapter coming soon!

**Hope you guys liked that chapter! I was finally able to change the 'You'. I got grounded for a while so I didn't update. I'm dedicating all my free time to finnishing this.**

**-Rikku**


	3. Chapter 3: The Third Day

_Silent**Lights**in**the**Darkness_

When I woke up the next morning, I had hoped I wouldn't bump into that guy in the black overcoat again. Everybody in town hates me enough as it is.

As I started for the day, I heard some leaves rustling outside my open bedroom window. I just thought it was a deer or something. I DO live in a woods after all.

While standing in front of my full-length mirror finnishing my hair, I heard the rustling getting closer, and could swear I could see the tips of some red spikes right in front of the window.

I freaked. One word, stalkers. And alot of them would be desperate enough to climb upon a second-floor window.

Even though I like the sound of birds singing in the morning, I figured that my life is more important, and closed the window.

Right before I left, I grabbed my little blue struggle weapon. If anyone asked, I could just tell them I was practicing or something like that.

I took the key from my pocket and locked the front door before heading to the wall that would lead me to the Common.

I walked a little faster than usual, clutching the weapon with both hands.

_'heh... heh heh heh...'_

I turned around quickly and held the weapon defensivly in front of me. I knew that laugh COULD NOT have been imaginable.

"W-who's there?" I called out.

There was no answer. But someone in the same black overcoat as the guy from yesterday was standing within 10 feet of me.

My eyes widened. "Uh, hi dude... i'm uh, s-sorry about yesterday. May-maybe I could uh, buy you an, ice cream? Or-or I could j-just..." My mind went blank as the person pointed a finger to me.

"I'd kind of expected a challenge from someone like you." From the voice, I could tell it was a man.

"Someone... like me?" I asked.

My heart was beating 100 miles a minute. _'What the hell does this guy want from me?'_ I asked myself as he gave a short laugh.

"Heh heh. Of course. You haven't discovered your inner light yet."

I started to calm down. He didn't seem like a threat. If he wanted to attack me, he probably would have done it by now.

"My, inner light?"

"You know... that Flame inside your heart?"

"A, flame?" I asked.

"Did I stutter? That Flame happends to be something I need. So, you'll be coming with me, even if that means knocking you unconscious."

I held the struggle hammer and prepared to fight. "I'm not going anywhere!" I told him.

The man stared at my weapon for a second and started laughing. I looked confused as I lowered it.

I shook my fist. "Hey! What's so funny? I'm not jokin' around!"

The hooded-man stopped laughing and held out his hands. Out of nowhere, two spiked chakrams appeared in his hands. He flipped them around on his fingers and gave another laugh.

"THIS is whats funny. I was imagining the stupid look on your face when you saw these babies."

And, yes, as a matter of fact, I did have the stupidest, most scared look on my face. My shoulders hung and my eyes were even wider than before. I took one look at the struggle hammer and gave a worried laugh.

"heh,heh, eh..." I looked around. No way I would let this dude into town. He'd surely try to hurt someone. Or even worse.

"Oh, yeah? Well, you're going down, so don't say I didn't warn you!" I took a tighter grip on the weapon, and felt a sudden change.

When I looked down, the 'keyblade' was in my hands again.

The man stepped back. "Wha-?"

I stared at the key absentmindedly, then back up at the guy. "It's common curtosy to show your face in a battle!" I yelled.

The man laughed. "Maybe, another time." He crouched down into a jumping position, and I ran torwards him. "No way! Not when we're just getting started!"

The guy jumped up into the trees and up torwards the sky.

"I enjoyed our chat, Ashe. By the way, my name is Axel. I'm suprised you didn't remember."

I clenched my teeth and fists in anger. _'Damn it! I couldn't stop him...'_

I shot up in my bed in cold sweat.

I felt my forehead. "A.. A dream?..." I asked myself. I heaved a sigh of relief. "Oh my GOD!" Then I started laughing. "For a second there, I could've sworn that-"

"Someone was in the woods? Watching you?"

I knew that voice.

The one named Axel.

I jumped up from my bed and ran to the other side of the room and gave a quick scream.

Axel laughed that laugh. "So, you saw me in a dream? I guess you've progressed alot faster than we expected!" He said.

"I know i've progressed from being scared to being totally pissed! What do you want?!" I shot back. I swiped my arm in front of my body and the keyblade appeared in my hand.

Axel started to clap. "Wow. Not only have you had a premonition, but NOW you've gotten a keyblade? By all means, good job." He said.

"I don't care about this stupid keyblade or some premo-whatever. Take down your hood and fight!" I shouted.

He shrugged. "Well, you know my name, why not?" He took down his hood to reveal spiky, red hair, bright green eyes with purple triangles under them.

"I'm Axel, as you already know. And, you, must be the one that they call Ashe." He said, stepping off the window sill. I heard him laugh, then he mumbled, "I can't believe I didn't catch that..."

"What?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Nothing."

I stood there and squinted. Keyblade at hand, I started asking questions. And I wanted some damn answers.

"I got a premonition... what is that?" I asked.

Axel sighed. "Look, I don't have all day. I'll play your game for a little bit, answer your questions and then i'll be on my merry way, alright?"

He sat down on my bed and yawned. "Bring it on."

I shook my head. "Right. What's a premonition?"

"A premonition is a vision, in dream form. Chosen ones, say you for example, get them all the time. The more you progress, the more often you get them and they'll eventually come when you're awake."

I raised an eyebrow. "Chosen one? Uh, and what am I chosen to do, exactly?" I asked. I had lowered the kayblade, since he didn't seem to want to hurt me.

"It's hard to say..." He said, rubbing his chin. "You in particular, were chosen to do alot of things. Alot of important things."

"But why ME? Out of everybody in the world, why pick on Ashe?" I asked angrily.

Axel held up his hands. "Whoa, whoa, whoa... Whoa. Don't pin this on me. It's just how you were born. Not my fault."

I ran my fingers through my hair. I was finding this quite annoying.

"But, how was I born?"

Axel gave a light laugh. "Let's just say, you were born under a certain star."

My jaw dropped, eyes widened, and shoulders sank like in my premonition in the woods.

"You mean all this is happening because I was born under a STAR?" I asked meanly. I growled and threw the keyblade down on the floor.

It quickly returned to my hand and Axel sighed again."Not just any star, though. Everything is planned out from the beginning of time. A little thing called 'destiny'. But, you'll find out more on a certain 'journey'. And, i'll leave it at that." He smiled, and stood up to leave.

I held up my free hand. "Axel! Wait!" He froze and turned his head around. "Yeah?"

I bit my bottom lip, a rather bad habit I had. "... You know Roxas... don't you?" I asked worridly.

Axel's expression saddened. "Another premonition?" He asked.

I nodded and Axel made his way to the window. "We'll continue this another time." He said, and jumped out.

I ran to the window and looked out, but he was gone.

I entered the usual spot, all dressed in regular attire. As soon as I walked in, Roxas tossed me an ice-cream.

"Thanks!" I said, and I tore off the wrapper and stuck the ice cream in my mouth.

I took a seat in between Hayner and Pence.

"Do you guys think we'll always be together like this?" Pence asked.

I looked at him with sad eyes. _'Poor Pencey...'_

"I sure hope so." Olette said.

"Where did THAT come from?" Hayner asked. I elbowed him on the arm. _"Hey! Be a little sensitive!"_ I whispered, as Hayner started rubbing his arm.

"Oh, ya know, just thinking out loud!" He said happily.

Hayner shrugged. "Well, I doubt we can be together forever... but isn't that what growing up's all about? What's important isn't how often we see each other, but how often we think about each other, right?"

Pence and I were the only ones who laughed.

"Nice speech, Hayner! Did you get it off a fortune cookie?" I asked.

He narrowed his eyes. "That's it! No more ice cream for you."

I brought my hand to my forehead in a dramatic way. "Oh, how will I EVER go on?!"

Hayner looked up. "Man, today's turning out to be a drag." He said.

"Maybe because of yesterday's memory thief?" Olette asked.

Hayner shook his head. "Nuh-uh. You know what it is? We don't want summer vacation to be over! That's all! So, how about this...? We all go to the beach! And why do we go to the beach? Because we haven't gone to the beach once this entire vacation!"

He got up and walked torwards the door. "Blue seas, blue skies... let's just get on the train and go!..." He turned around to see how everyone thought of his idea. But, nobody seemed moved.

"No...?" He asked. He crossed his arms. "Aww, come on."

"Maybe you forgot, but... we're broke." Roxas said.

"Well, maybe you forgot, that I'M smart!" He ran out, everyone following except Roxas. "Hurry up, Roxas!" I shouted.

We all met outside the usual spot and Hayner told us, "We're going to Market Street." And we all sped off to something Hayner wanted to see.

When I caught up, I saw Hayner was staring at a Struggle poster.

"Just two days to go. You, Ashe, and I have to make the finals. That way, no matther who wins, the 5 of us split the prize!"

Roxas nodded." Alright."

"You're on!" I said, and jumped up and down.

"You guys are gonna clean up!" Pence said.

Olette cheered. "Go get 'em!"

The three of us held up our arms together and nodded. "It's a promise!" Hayner said. We all dropped our arms and Hayner spoke up.

"Alright, now let's get down to business. One ticket is 900 munny, how much is that for all of us?" He asked.

I was counting on my fingers. I wasn't exactly the best at math. "Umm..."

Olette smiled. "4500 munny."

"And 300 each to spend there. How much is that?"

I raised my hand. "Oh! Oh! 1500 munny!"

"A total of 6000 munny." Olette finnished.

"To spend on what?" Roxas asked.

Hayner smiled. "Why, pretzels of course! What else is there?" he said.

"There's always watermelon."

Hayner shook his head. "Too pricey. They're like, 2000 munny apiece."

Roxas was quiet for a moment. "... Pretzels it is."

"Right. So, where were we?" Hayner asked.

"We need 6000 munny altogether. But all we have is..."

" I've got 800." Pence said.

"650..." Olette.

"500." I said.

Roxas was quiet. "150. Sorry..."

Hayner was extatic. "That's 2100 munny! We need another 3900. Let's get some odd jobs and earn some dough! We have until the train leaves to earn 780 munny each. Meet at the station with cash at hand." And he ran away to the station.

All of us were silent for a few moments until Pence spoke up. "Didn't he say he had it covered?" he asked.

"Whatever. Those pretzels are sounding pretty good." Roxas said.

_-Later-_

When I got the munny from my jobs, I met everyone at the station.

"All present and accounted for?" Hayner asked.

Roxas felt around his pockets, and pulled out some munny he got from his job. "Let's see... just this." He showed it to Hayner, who approved.

"Wow, Roxas! We can even afford some watermelon with this!" He praised.

I turned to Olette, who looked like she was hiding something behind her back. "Nice job, everyone. Added to what we started with we now have... ta-da! 6000 munny!" She held up her munnypouch that she made.

"Sweet!" Pence said.

Pence and Olette ran for the station while I stayed behind with Roxas and Hayner.

"We can't be together forever... so we better make the time we do have something to remember." Hayner said.

I looked saddened. _'Stupid Hayner, making me feel bad...'_ I thought.

Hayner then punched Roxas's arm and said, "Got'cha!" I giggled, but quickly stopped to hit Hayner on the back. "Shut up, Hayner! Let's just get tickets before the train leaves!" I said.

Hayner glared at me for a moment, but shook it off and ran to the station with Pence and Olette. Roxas followed, leaving me last. While Roxas was running he dropped the munnypouch Olette entrusted him with.

I picked it up and tried to catch up so I could give it back to Roxas. "Hey, Rox-!" Suddenly, as if planned, Roxas and I fell, at the same time.

"Whoa..."

whomp

I fell straight on my front and closed my eyes for a moment, the hard concrete knocking the wind out of me for a few seconds.

As soon as I opened my eyes, I saw a twig land right next to me. _'I-... is this some kind of joke?'_ I thought. _'Is the guy in black getting back at me for hitting him with that stick yesterday?'_

I regained some of my balence, flailing my arms around, and a hooded person jerked me and Roxas up the rest of the way.

"Hey!" I said. The man muttered something.

"...what?" Roxas asked.

"Roxas! Ashe! 3 minutes!" Hayner shouted at us. "C'mon lazybones!"

"Coming!" Roxas shouted back. I looked around to find the man in the trenchcoat, but he wasn't in sight. So I ran to the station to catch up to everyone.

"5 students." Hayner told the guy behind the counter at the Station. He held out his hand for me to give him the munny.

Pence elbowed me. "Hey, Ashe. The munny." He said. I was kind of dazed, but Pence brought me back to it. "Oh yeah."

I felt inside the pouch attached to my belt, but it wasn't there. "Wait--no!" I told them.

"Huh?" Hayner asked, as if he wasn't believing what he was hearing.

I suddenly remembered: The guy dressed in black.

"HE took it!" Roxas said.

My eyes widened and I gave a short gasp.

We started running for the door.

"Where are you going?" Olette asked.

"Remember when we fell? I had the money before that. I bet that guy took it!" Roxas explained.

"Guy?" Hayner asked.

I nodded. " He couldn't have gotten too far..."

"What are you talking about?" Hayner asked. "There was no guy."

"Huh? But he... there wasn't... really?" Roxas stuttered.

I seemed confused. "You mean you guys didn't see him?"

Pence sighed. "Oh, boy."

"But, me and Roxas... we..."

They all walked past me except Roxas. My head hung low, disappionted that I let my friends down.

Roxas put his hand on my shoulder. "Come on." He said with a smile. I gave him a small smile back, but it didn't help me feel any better.

_-Station Tower-_

We were all on the station tower, having a stick of ice cream. Roxas was the only one not eating.

"It's melting!" Olette said.

I was able to tell Roxas was about to blame himself for this. He always does that. But I took that fall for him. "I'm... sorry guys. It's all my fault we couldn't go to the beach..."

"Cheer up, already!" Hayner said.

Pence nodded. "That was definatly weird though."

"Strange." Olette said.

"You said it." Hayner added.

I gave a sly smile. "Hmm. 'Can you feel darkness?' Thats what that guy told me."

"I thought he said, 'Can you feel Sora.'?" Roxas said.

I shrugged, smile disappearing. "I dunno. It could have been darkness, or Sora."

In the back of my head, I heard a whisper. "Namine... hurry..."

_- Somewhere Else-_

"Is it really that hard to make a beach?" A man asked.

Another man, with red wrappings over his face spoke, orange-yellow eyes gleaming from the bright computer screen.

"We'd be giving the enemy another entry point." He said.

The other man, dressed in a black cloak, held up Olette's stolen munny pouch.

"And this..."? He asked.

The Red man, turned in his chair. "We could always buy some sea-salt ice cream." He gave a chuckle and turned back to the conversation.

"Objects from that town must be kept out of the real world. You can delete that."

**Yay yay! Read the next chappie now! GO GO GO!! And don't forget to review!**

**-Rikku**


	4. Chapter 4: The Welcoming

_**Silent**Lights**In**The**Darkness**_

_chapter 4_

Roxas walked into the Usual spot the next morning, hoping to see his friends. But the only thing he saw was a note:

Meet at the station. Today is the day we hit the beach-and don't sweat about the munny!-Hayner.

He walked outside and to some other shops, where he found Pence and Olette. The turned to talk to him.

"Hey." Pence greeted.

"Morning." said Olette.

Suddenly, they freezed. Roxas looked confused. "Huh?"

Then a girl with light blond hair to one side, wearing a white dress and blue sandals walked up to him.

"Hello, Roxas." she said.

"Hi..." He muttered.

They stood for a moment before Roxas asked, "...and you are?..."

The girl stopped him. "I wanted to meet you, at least once." she said.

"Me?" he asked.

"Yes, you." She answered.

She turned to walk away, but when she was about to turn the corner, I came running in front of her.

"Roxas! Me and Hayner are wait--" I said. I was distracted by the girl standing in front of me.

The girl smiled at me.

"Hi..." I said, a smile appearing.

"Hello, Ashe. It's nice to finally meet you." she said. She gave a small curtsey, walked past me and walked away.

"B-bye..!" I said waving. Roxas and I stood silent for a few moments until I finally asked, "Hey, what's up with Pence and Olette?"

Then, they both unfroze and walked torwards us.

"Olette dragged me to go shopping." Pence complained.

I put my hands on my hips and leaned to one side. "Is that so? And why didn't you invite ME Letty?" I joked.

"You were busy with Hayner! Remember?" She said.

I laughed. "I know."

"Hey, you wanna come with us?" Olette asked.

Roxas finally said something. "Um, uhh... wait... did you just see that..."

"He's stalling." Pence said.

"Very well then. We'll see you later Roxas." Olette said, then her and Pence ran off to continue their shopping.

Y-yeah.." Roxas said as he watched them run off. "Did she go to that haunted mansion?"

Roxas ran down the slope to the tram common.

"Roxas!"

He turned around to see who called him.

It was me, waving and running to catch up.

"Ashe?" he said.

"Lemme go with you." I told him.

"Aren't- aren't you going shopping?" He asked.

I smiled. "Pfft! I can go shopping with Olette any time. Besides, I want to talk to that girl again, don't you? She's probably the only one except you guys who's called me an outsider, right?" I said.

He merely nodded and decided to let me come along.

"Well, let's go then!" I took his hand dragged him along.

A few seconds later, I saw her under a bridge-like building. "There she is!" I said and pointed to her.

We both ran to her, but when we got there she disapeared.

"Hey! Wh-where'd she go?" I asked, looking high and low.

"Let's go in there." He pointed to the crevasse in the wall that lead to my house and the woods.

_- Haunted Woods -_

We slowly walked into the woods, Roxas a little bit ahead of me. I rubbed my arms and suddenly got chills.

_'Erm... I hope I don't run into that Axel guy again...'_ I thought.

Out of nowhere, darkness fogged in around my feet, and a hole formed in the air. The white creatures came out. The same ones from a few days ago.

They wrapped their bodies around us.

"Lemme go!" He shouted and shook them off. Roxas was able to free me from some of them, then we ran out of the woods and back to the common.

"Do you think.. it's safe at-at the sandlot?" I asked, trying not to talk so I could keep my breath.

"Only one way to find out." He said, and we ran to the sandlot where we ran into Seifer.

"Well, if it isn't chicken wuss and graceful."

I just **hated** that name that Seifer gave me. I am VERY clumsy, hense the sacasm in the name 'graceful'.

Roxas stared them down until I shook his shoulder. "Roxas! The monsters!" I shouted.

"Who's that?" Fuujin asked.

They all stood in a battle position, leaving me and Roxas in front of them.

"I don't know..." Seifer said. "But they've already crossed the line! You two, find a weapon!" He commanded.

We looked to the side and found two, blue struggle hammers. We both did a cartwheel and crossed, grabbing the hammers.

We stood in front of Seifer's gang. "We'll cover you!" I said.

Roxas and I started off with one creature, but, like before, it was no use. It went right through the thing like a ghost.

Roxas got knocked down and I ran to him. "Are you okay?" I asked, helping him up.

He slowly backed away from the creatures.

"Roxas? What are you doing? We can't just leave them here!" I said.

He ignored me and continued to back away.

"Roxas!" I said louder.

"Roxas! Ashe! Use the keyblades!"

I desperatly looked for the voice. It sounded so familliar.

Looking around, I finally saw the girl from before. "It's you!" I shouted relieved.

I turned to Roxas, trying to get him to stay and defend Seifer, Rai and Fuu. "She's right Roxas!"

But even if I could get him to stay, one of the creatures jumped and prepared to attack Roxas.

"Roxas!" I shouted, and leaped in front of him to protect him.

Roxas looked at the being from behind me and covered his face.

_Then, it was like he was transported to another world. I was in another world..._

Me eyes were shut tight, bracing for the attack the white creature had in store for me.

When I heard nothing, I slowly opened my eyes...

I looked behind me, expecting to see Roxas, only to see he had vanished. "R-Roxas?" I muttered.

I looked down, and I was standing on a single pilliar made of colorful stained glass. It was a yellow-gold color, and it had a girl, a boy, a duck, a dog, and another boy- about my age. He was wearing red, and a white jacket, holding some sort of key.

Then I heard a voice.

_"The Light of the World There Never Was..."_ it said.

"Who-who's there? Roxas?" I said, wandering around.

_"Savior of the Twilight Wind..."_

I raised an eyebrow. "Wha--? Who's there? Where am I?" I asked.

_"Tranquility..."_ said the voice.

"Tranquility..." I whispered. "A station of Tranquility..." I repeated.

3 orbs appeared, revealing 3 weapons.

_"The Sword of Strength- Will of the Warrior._

_The Staff of Wisdom- Destiny of the Calmer_

_The Sheild of Protection- Fate of the Guardian_

_Choose wisely."_

I looked around, and saw some white creatures dancing around the pillar, but they seemed calm.

_That place was bathed in Light. I saw darkness surrounding me slowly. Looking into that dark light, I worried for Roxas. Where was he? I hoped he wasn't trapped in the dark. I was... frightened._

I decided. I needed to choose something to get out of here and find Roxas.

I cautiously tip-toed to the sword. I slowly reached out, and barely touched it before it disappeared.

_"The Will of the Warrior is now yours."_ It said.

In it's place, the keyblade apeared. I looked at it in confusion, and the white beings stepped out of the dark and onto my golden pillar.

"Get away!" I shouted.

I wondered about Roxas, and if he was okay, but I shook away the thoughts until later and concentrated on the monsters.

I fought them, a little easier than what I had expected. They disappeared, and a circle on the pillar decorated with a crown lit up.

A black chest with gold lining appeared.

I walked up to it and knealt down next to it and slowly opened it.

"Hey! A potion!" I exclaimed. I stuck it in the pouch on my belt.

After a few seconds, a large, wooden door appeared.

_"Be careful, Light."_ said the voice. _"Beyond that door lies a completely different world."_

I walked to the door, slower than I thought i'd ever walked in my life.

_"Don't stop walking."_ It said.

I stopped, and thought of it's words.

I took a deep breath, narrowed my eyebrows, held my chest high and started walking to the mysterious door.

I opened it very slightly, enough to fit my nose and eyes through to see where I was going.

I walked through, looking in every direction. Echoey voices started talking to me.

_'The station of... station... calling... station of Calling...'_

"Ashe!"

The voice silenced the whispers and I looked straight ahead.

"Roxas..." I said relieved.

We met in the middle of another pillar, the same as the one I was just on, only it was colored blue.

"You okay?" I asked him.

He nodded. "For now."

I hugged myself. "Can we find a way out of here? This place gives me the creeps..." I said shivering.

"Yeah, common. We'll take that bridge." He said.

He pointed to a stained-glass bridge that lead to another pillar.

We walked to the pillar, colored green, and saw another chest, this one red.

"Another potion!" I said and ran to it. I tapped it lightly with the keyblade and it opened. I reached in and grabbed the potion.

"Hurry up Ashe. We should get out of here soon." Roxas said.

"Okay." I said, taking the other potion and putting it away.

We continued up the glass bridge, next to a red-orange pillar. There was another door like the one before.

We walked to it and opened one side. I walked in first, Roxas after.

I looked up and down, and Roxas looked left to right. Something about this place was too quiet... too erie.

"Ashe!"

I looked at Roxas who was pointing at a giant white monster.

"Huh? Whoa--!" I said.

Roxas slowly backed away, while I stood in place, frozen with fear.

I looked at Roxas and noticed he started taking off torwards the end of the pillar.

He almost fell, but I ran to him, and took a hold of his wrist.

"Gotcha!" I said, and pulled him up.

I looked up at the giant white being, fear quickly dissolving away.

"Let's do this Roxas!"

**Here is another updated chappie! Now, continue with the marvelous story! **

**-Rikku**


	5. Chapter 5: Friendship

_**Silent**Lights**In**the**Darkness**_

_chapter 5_

**RECAP:** Roxas and I stood, frozen in fear as the monster was closing in on us. Roxas tries to escape and I save him the the nick of time. We turn to face the monster and I utter: "Let's do this, Roxas!"

"Let's do this, Roxas!" I yelled to him, as he stared up at the white monster.

I swallowed hard and finally ran to the monster, trying to hit it with everything I had.

But just before I could attack, an orb of light and darkness surrounded us, and before I knew it, I was chained high up in the air by the orbs.

I struggled for freedom, but my wrists and ankles were locked tight.

The monster reared back, preparing to attack Roxas, who I just noticed was chained, too.

I gasped and looked at Roxas, who was looking desperatly for a way out. "Roxas!" I shouted. He looked up at the monster, who was coming straight for him at top speed.

I saw it with my own eyes, he was able to free one of his arms and legs, and he kicked the monster away!

"Yeah! Go Roxas!" I cheered. But that was not a time for cheering.

As soon as it hit the edge of the pillar, the monster streched it's arms and grabbed both of us, releasing the orbs holding us down.

It threw us up, hundreds if not thousands of feet in the air.

_'Oh, crap!'_ I thought, seeing the ground below me.

That would be one hell of a fall, let alone a landing.

But a ray of hope had shone down on me at that moment. The mysterious keyblade had appeared in my hand.

A smile spread across my face as I planned another attack on the giant being.

I straightened my body, and fell straight down to where the monster was. I kept my hands at my sides to get more speed.

I did a smooth and graceful flip before whacking the monster in the head with the keyblade.

Of course, I did a not-so-graceful landing, falling flat on my ass.

Roxas landed safely on the ground right next to me, and helped me to my feet. At the last second, I saw the giant white monster fell off of the ledge of the tall pillar.

I put a strand of blond hair behind my ear and stared at the edge. "Did we win?" I asked.

"I think it'll take a little more than that to beat the humongous thing..." Roxas told me. We ran to the place where it was, but when we got to the middle, the ground started shaking.

The pillar tilted at a slant, and we started falling to the darkness.

"WHAAAA-"

I saw Roxas stab his keyblade into the stained glass pillar and grab my wrist. "Gotcha!"

There it was. The monster. It was sitting in an orb of light and dark, both swirling around it's like strands of magical silk that followed it's command.

But before my eyes, they keyblade came from the glass, and me and Roxas fell to the evil being.

_"As if in slow motion, Roxas and I fell to the orb and the creature. I was scared..."_

But by some miricle, we found balence to jump up, do a flip for speed, and throw the keyblades at the same time at the sphere, and it exploded.

THE BAD PART OF EXPLOSIONS: When something explodes, air waves carry you, very fast I might add, to where ever you land. And the landing that was coming up, I was sure was gonna hurt like a mother.

And I was right. I fell flat on my back, hurting it badly. It seemed impossible, but the wind wasn't knocked out of me.

The monster got up, wanting more from us. I got up, and saw my keyblade was jammed into the pillar.

I ran to it and tried to pull it out, but it was stuck good. But it didn't stop me. I saw Roxas get up and try to get his keyblade, too. I focused only on my keyblade, and as if by magic, it just disappeared and re-appeared in my hand.

Though Roxas was able to pull his out of the ground.

We ran to the monster with full force, and hit it with everything I had.

The magic streams came back, and held Roxas and I, as though aiding us to defeat the monster. We aimed for the head, and started attacking it again.

"How much longer until this thing gives!?" I shouted.

"I don't know!" Roxas said back. "But don't stop!"

Then, the monster started flailing around, and before we knew it, I was in the same orb-chains as before.

Roxas started tugging at them, and then shouted to me, "Ashe! You have to pull free and hit this thing when it comes to you! They only get loser whenever it gets close to you!"

I was out of breath, but managed to shout an ,"Okay." before looking for the thing.

There it was, arms outstreched and pulling at me. Just like Roxas told me, I pulled my arms out at the same time and gave the monster a forceful kick.

The monster came to me again, and threw us up.

"Together now!" I said to Roxas as we jetted down. When we got closer, I gave a battlecry, "Lunarsault!" and we hit the monster at the same time.

We both landed, on my feet this time, and waited for the ground to shake.

As I predicted, it did, and this time, we were prepared for what was gonna happen. I stabbed my keyblade into the pillar like Roxas and looked down at the monster.

Somehow, it looked scarier this time.

We both looked at each other, nodded, and took hands.

"Let's go!" I shouted, and pulled my keyblade from the pillar.

And then I fell, to the being and threw the keyblades together at the monster. It exploded again, with every color of a rainbow.

I looked down to the pillar, which looked alot smaller from how high up we were. As it got bigger, I braced myself for the pain. But it wouldn't have mattered, when I hit the pillar...everything automatically went black.

I slowly opened my eyes and held my head. The first thing I saw was a blurry vision of Roxas staring down at me worridly.

"Ashe... are you okay?" he asked.

I sat up a little bit, felling dizzy and winded. "Can you walk?" He asked.

I muttered, "I... I think so..." And tried to stand up. My attempts were like a newborn fawn, legs shaky, and eyes barely open.

"Good..." He said. "Come on!"

I looked confused. _'Was all of that a dream...?'_ I thought.

My question was answered when I looked up and saw the giant white being, ready to fall on us.

For some odd reason my balence seemed fine now.

I backed up, not able to take my eyes off of the monster. But then, Roxas fell. I got down by him and tried to help him up, but it would've been to late anyway.

"Roxas!" I shouted.

I looked around, darkness surrounding me everywhere. I didn't know why, but was able to stand up, and Roxas wasn't.

I looked down on him, watching him struggle to keep his head above the dark. It saddened me, almost forced to watch him suffer.

I extended my arm to him and he grabbed my hand.

_"When I touched him, Light surrounded us, and we were transported to this weird, bright room."_

We both looked around the room, breathing heavily from the battle.

"Oh!" I said suprised.

_"I didn't realize until that moment... we were still holding hands..."_

Roxas looked up, and so did I.

"It's her!" I said happily, pointing to the girl.

It was the blond girl from earlier. The one who didn't judge me.

Roxas stepped up, ready to say something. The girl smiled and held her index finger to her lips representing silence.

"My name is Namine." She said.

The was a few minutes of silence before she spoke again.

"Roxas..." we both looked up at her again. "Do you remember your true name?" she asked.

I put my hands on my hips and smiled. "His name is Roxas, silly!" I said.

Roxas looked confused up to Namine, and then a man in a black cloak came and pulled Namine up by her arm.

My first thought was, _'Axel'_

"Say no more Namine." He said.

_'That rules out Axel.'_ I thought. _'His voice is different.'_

"But if no one tells him, Roxas will..." Namine stopped in mid-sentence.

"It's best he doesn't know the truth." the man said. "As for Ashe..."

I jumped and pointed my index finger at the man. "Hey!"

Roxas looked at the man and shouted. "You're that pickpocket!"

"And stealing is MY specialty!" I said. Roxas looked at me confused. We just got out of trouble of being accused of stealing.

The man thrusted his arm and a portal of darkness appeared. Roxas and I slowly backed away from it, and I was cringing like a puppy.

But the man in black pushed us in.

"Seifer, strike a pose, ya know?"

"Leave him alone, you clowns!"

"How's this?"

"That's totally perfect, ya know?"

"That's totally NOT perfect, YA KNOW!?" I mocked.

I woke up a few minutes earlier, and Roxas was still out of it.

Seifer and his lackys were standing there, claiming that they gave us the beating.

But I had to defend Roxas somehow. So I'd been sitting in front of him, making Fuu take my picture instead of his.

When I looked down, Roxas was waking up, and he looked up at me. Then he saw Fuu taking pictures and Seifer standing in front.

I was relieved he was okay. "Roxas, are you--- hey!"

Seifer pulled on my arm and made me stand next to him. "Smile." he demanded.

I struggled to get free of his grasp. "Let me go! I'm not a trophy!" I spat.

Seifer gave a short laugh. "You are now."

"How 'bout one more, ya know?" Rai said.

Roxas was now able to stand. "What's that for!?" he asked.

Fuu put down the camera. "Keepsake." she said.

"Those freaks in thw white jumpsuits are gone, ya know?" Rai told us.

While he was talking, I bit Seifer's hand, and he let me go. I ran and hid behind Roxas, sticking my tongue out at Seifer.

"Cakewalk." said Fuu.

Roxas watched me hide behind him and he turned back to Seifer and his gang. "What were those things?" he asked.

"Outsiders, that's what." Seifer said.

Roxas lightly gasped and his eyes widened. He looked at me, and he could tell, I had looked like I'd been punched in the stomach. Either that, or thats what I would've prefered.

I turned away, and ran up the stairs from the sandlot to the back alley.

"Ashe...!" Roxas shouted. But I ran too fast, I wouldn't have heard him anyway.

_" 'Outsider' is what Seifer called me when all of Twilight Town found out about my appearing from nowhere... I guess I just never grew out of being scared of that name..."_

I ran past the Usual Spot, on the verge of crying.

Sure, it made me sound weak and sensitive, but thoughts of suicide had often crossed my mind. Never belonging, always having people hate me because they didn't know me. Because they never took a shot at wanting to know me.

'Outsider' is a term that I would rather NOT be called.

I turned into the arch that lead to the Common, and heard Hayner, Pence and Olette leave the spot. "Was that Ashe?" I heard Olette ask.

"I don't know." Pence said.

Hayner ran down to the tunnels that lead to the underground concourse. They were closed for construction, but we always found a way in. "Whatever made her upset... i'll handle it."

Pence and Olette followed him down to the tunnels. I emerged from my hiding spot under the arch and went into the usual spot.

When I walked inside, I fell to my knees.

"Why don't I belong...?" I whispered.

I looked down at the pouch on my side. There was a switchblade I kept. I took it out, pushed the button and the blade swong out.

I took short, shallow breaths. _'Do I really wanna do this?'_ I thought.

I rolled up my left sleeve. With a deep breath held in my chest, I closed my eyes and turned my head away from my wrist.

Waiting anxiously for the pain to commence, a tear fell down my cheek.

**"ASHE!"**

I kept my eyes closed. It was Hayner. I held the knife tightly in my right hand, stopped from going any nearer torwards my wrists.

Hayner ran in front of me, took the knife angrily and threw it to the back wall. "What the hell are you thinking, Ashe!?" He said, shaking my shoulders.

I held my head down, not wanting Hayner to see my teared cheeks. I sniffed.

"Why don't I belong...?" I asked in a whisper, slowly raising my head. Hayner's expression softened. He pulled me closer into a hug. My head rested on his shoulder as I began to bawl.

Hayner rubbed my back and comforted me. "W-Where are Pence, and Ol...Olette?" I asked.

"We split up to look for you. They'll be back in a little bit." he said.

After a few minutes of sobbing and consoling, I raised my head and Hayner looked at me, with perhaps the nicest expression I had seen him ever make. Torwards me anyway.

He flashed a smile and I giggled. "Let's just forget this ever happened, okay?" He said, helping me up.

I nodded. "Un-huh." When we both got up, I gave him one final hug in which he hesitated at first, but eventually returned it.

It wasn't visible to me, but Hayner was blushing red as a tomato. When I let go, Hayner looked at me and said, "Why don't we get some ice cream and got get Roxas?"

I nodded and walked out next to him. We headed to the Common to get some ice cream from the lady. It would be one of the last days before she closed the shop.

"Hayner..." I muttered.

"Yeah?" he answered. We were walking to the usual spot to give some ice cream to Olette and Pence.

"If I told you where Roxas was... can you please not be mad at him?"

He looked confused. "Why would I be mad at him?" he asked.

I looked down. "No reason..."

When we arrived outside the Usual Spot, Pence and Olette were waiting. "Hey!" Olette waved. "We were worried about you!"

Pence looked around. "We just thought Roxas was with you, so..."

"Oh, he's at-- wait, Ashe, where IS Roxas?" Hayner asked.

I rubbed my arm while my ice cream bar was in my mouth. "Ummmm..." I mumbled.

"Well?" Hayner said.

I walked inside the usual spot and sat on the furnace thing that Hayner always sat on. "Well, where is he Ashe?" Pence asked.

"Hayner." I said. "Promise me you won't get mad at him..."

Hayner growled. "Fine. I promise I won't be mad. Now just tell us where he is!"

"He's... at the sandlot..." I said.

"Okay." Olette said. "We'll go get him."

"Hayner!" I said before he left.

He turned and faced me. "What NOW!?"

I gave him the 'puppy-eyes'. "Remember your promise..."

He nodded and left.

Pence and Olette walked back into the usual spot, backs slumped sadly, then Hayner stormed in and put his empty ice cream stick in his mouth and pouted.

Even I had to admit he looked cute.

"Hayner, you promised. It's not what it looks-"

"I know what I saw, okay?!" he shot back.

He was sitting next to me on the furnace and I just looked down.

Then Roxas came in. I didn't want to look at him. I didn't want him mad at me, too.

"So, you hung out with Seifer's gang today?" Pence asked.

"N-no... it's not like that." Roxas said, waving his hands defensivly.

There was silence for a few moments before Roxas said, "Oh yeah! How was the beach? That was today, wasn't it?"

Olette shook her head. "We didn't go. When we couldn't find you or Ashe, we just thought, 'It wouldn't be the same without you'. Right?"

Roxas's head hung low. "...Sorry..."

I looked up to see him, and it made my heart sink. _'Why don't I say something? I've got to save him so he doesn't get chewed out by Hayner...'_

But no matter how hard I tried, the words wouldn't come out. The conversation carried on.

"Hey, how about we go tomorrow? We could get those pretzels and..."

Hayner narrowed his eyes at Roxas and put his hand on my shoulder. I looked up to Hayner and wondered what he was doing.

He didn't look at me, he was probably trying to make Roxas feel bad.

"WE promised to be somewhere." He said.

"Ohh...Oh!" Roxas said.

_'What the hell is he-- oh yeah... He must've thought about our promise about the Struggle tomorrow. Oh, wow. The town Struggle is tomorrow...'_

"I'm outta here." Hayner said. He jumped off of the furnace and went out the door. He just brushed by Roxas as though he wasn't there. I looked down, guilt drowning my already heavy heart.

I was the last to leave the spot that night.

"Was that Namine made of data?"

"No... Namine hijacked the data herself. Now look what she's done. She's totally beyond my control...!" A man slammed a rather high-tech computer with his fist.

"Calm down." Someone told him.

"It doesn't matter." The man said. "As long as Namine accomplishes her goal, we needen't worry about what befalls Roxas..."

"And Ashe?" the other man asked.

"You had make sure no harm comes to her... or all, will be lost. That's your job, isn't it Ansem?..."

Roxas was sleeping. Yet another strange nightmare haunting him. He was barely awake when he thought he heard Ashe's voice. "Roxas?"

He sat up in his bed and looked around the room. He could've swore he heard her. "Right..." He said.

"Promise!" He looked around again. It was her voice. He was confused and he scratched his head. "What a mess..."

**Yay yay. Updates are cool. Review and keep going!**

**-Rikku**


	6. Chapter 6:The Struggle Starts

_**Silent**Lights**In**The**Darkness**_

It was here at last. The day of the Twilight Town Struggle. I had been waiting forever for this thing to finally come.

It didn't seem like it by my expression.

Still upset over the whole 'Outsider' thing, I thought I would never want to do anything fun again.

I stared straight at the ground, and blinked slowly. My bright turquoise-and-green eyes seemed more dull then they usually were.

Hayner just looked around. I could tell he was still angry at Roxas. _'That jackass...'_ I thought. _'He said he wouldn't be mad. He promised.'_

I then saw Roxas coming down the stairs from the corner of my eye. I didn't bother to look directly at him.

He ran to Hayner and I. It was silent for several moments then Roxas broke the ice.

"Hayner, i'm sorry. Ashe and I... we were-"

Hayner cut him off. "It's starting." He said. Roxas sighed, probably finally getting the point that Hayner didn't exactly want to listen to his explanation.

I looked up at Roxas, his bright blue eyes had every sad emotion in them. He turned and faced the ring.

"Who 'ya gonna root for?" I heard Pence ask.

"Both of them, silly!" Olette said.

The promoter stood on the ring and got everyone's attention. "Ladies and Gentlemen, Struggle feinds of Twilight Town! It's time for summer's most sizzling clash! That's right! Today is the day for the Struggle and title match! Who break through the ranks and take on our champion, Setzer!?"

"Seifer, ya, know?" Raijin shouted.

The promoter comtinued. "And who will leave todayas our new Struggle champion?"

"Hayner! Roxas! Ashe!" Pence and Olette shouted in unison.

"SETZZEEEERRRRRRR!!!" I heard. It must be the love-sick fangirls for the ever popular Struggle champ, Setzer.

_'He's so full of himself...'_ I thought. I continued to look down at my feet, swaying slightly.

"Yes, the crowd is fired up. So you know what tha means... lets... STRUGGLE!!!"

The fireworks went off and I was still cold and remote. Hayner nudged me. "Hey, c'mon. Cheer up. This is the one thing you've waited for all summer."

I closed my eyes and nodded.

"Ashe..." He said annoyed.

I looked at him, my 'heterochromatic irises' as they were called, staring into his dark browns. He hooked my arm with his. "Look at the fireworks. It can't be all bad."

"How can you stand to be around me?" I asked him. "When i'm not like this... i'm always fighting with you."

With his free hand he scratched the back of his head. "Well, you know..." his voice trailed off. "I really like you. You and I... w-we have a bond, I guess."

I took a deep breath and smiled. Closing my eyes I thought, _'Olette was right.'_

_-FLASHBACK-_

_"Listen Ashe... You and Hayner always fight, and you may think he's the worst thing in the world, but if you look at it another way, you and Hayner are really close."_

_"Heh?" I asked._

_"Yeah, you and Hayner have a special relationship that the rest of us don't. You're closer to him than you think." Olette said._

_"Really?"_

_She nodded as I pondered. I finally came to the conclution that it could, in fact, be possible, and smiled._

_"I guess you're right"_

_-END FLASHBACK-_

The fireworks were coming to an end and I looked back up at Hayner, who was watching the fireworks ever so closely.

He probably didn't even notice I was looking at him.

"I... gotta talk to Roxas..." I said, and unlatched my arm from Hayners.

"Oh... okay." He said. I walked behind him and over to the other side where Roxas was.

"Roxas..." I mumbled.

He looked to me and asked, "What?"

It took me a second to find the words to say. "I'm... sorry, that Hayner is acting like this. He's just... I was..."

His eyes darted down. "Don't worry about it..." he said. "These things happen..."

"It's all my fault..." I said, staring back down at my feet.

I could tell he felt bad when I looked at him from the corner of my eye. "It's not your fault, Ashe." He said, putting his hand on my shoulder.

"Yes it is. If I hadn't have left you with Seifer then maybe Hayner wouldn't hate you..." I explained.

Roxas tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear. "No, then he'd hate you too." he said. "You don't have to worry about me, Ashe. Hayner will come around. He can't stay mad forever."

I nodded even though my head was hanging. "I believe you. Every time me and Hayner fought, you always said 'He can't stay mad forever'. And he's not mad anymore."

Roxas smiled and put his arm around my shoulder. "See? He'll cool off and we'll all be together again."

I looked up and said, "Yeah..." before laying my head on his shoulder and watching the rest of the fireworks die off into the Twilight horizon.

_-Struggle Battle 1-_

The ref entered the center of the ring and got the attention of everyone in the crowd. "Hey, now. It's time to introduce today's combatants. The 4 bad boys who Struggled their way through the prelimenaries! Regular finalist and head of the Twilight Town diciplinary comittee, Seifer!"

"Completely out of nowhere, who knew he'd make it so far this year? Vivi!"

"An underground favorite and local attitude problem, Hayner! It's his first trip to the finals."

"And our 4th struggler, who happends to be my favorite customer, Roxas! So--"

I looked down when they forgot to mention my name. Either that or he was just skipping me completely. Naturally, it wouldn't suprise me.

Hayner ran up to the ref and said something to him that I couldn't hear. Everyone else looked confused.

"Lastly, our own outsider with a rebel flare, Ashe!" I looked up at Hayner and gave a small smile as he gave me a big grin. Even though that description sounded sorta like an insult...

"So, who will win this sweltering summer struggle? Who will take home the grand prize? The suma cum laude of Struggle--the 5 Crystal Trophy! And a chance to take on our defending champion, Setzer!"

Setzer raised the Struggle champion belt to his fans, who screamed in adoration. I just walked away to a bench on the far side of the arena in the shadow of a nearby building.

"It won't be long now, folks." The ref said. "I suggest our Strugglers head over to the official Struggle rules before we begin.

_-!-_

I sat alone on the bench, hugging my knees to my chest and staring off to my friends, who were wandering around and waiting for the Struggle to begin.

"Can I sit down?"

I looked up to see Roxas next to me. I stared at him innocently, looked at the ground and said, "Yeah..."

He sat down and rested his elbows on his knees, fidgeting with his fingers.

He took a deep breath, as if gathering up the words when I suddenly asked,

"Have you ever felt... like an... an, outsider?"

His dark blue azures looked at me with concern. He could only imagine what was going through my twisted head right now.

"Well, yeah. I think everyone feels that sometimes-"

"No." I interrupted, shaking my head. "All the time. Like... people always stare at you like you don't belong... denying you the right to exist..."

He wrapped one of his arms around my waist. "You don't have to even worry about that. We don't feel that way about you. You have every right to exist..."

"Why are you always so nice to me?" I asked.

"You're my friend. I can't think of any other reason to be nice to you, you deserve all the friendship you have for all you've given us."

"Oh." I muttered. "Thats why. But I can't help feeling that you... already know."

"Already know what?" He asked.

I gave a small smile, and a sympathetic look crossed by face.

"It's okay," i said, "Everyone knows I don't belong here."

_-!-_

We all walked to the ref and listened to him so the Struggle could begin.

"Alright," He said. " You already know the rules so a refresher can't hurt. You each start off with 100 orbs and attack your opponent to get their orbs. Land a hit and you'll get some orbs. But if you get hit, you'll lose orbs too, so watch out! Keep collecting orbs and when the match is over, the one with the most orbs wins! When you're all ready, go talk to the promoter, who is in the center of the ring. Good Luck!"

_"Ever since the day I got real sensitive about being called 'outsider', me and Hayner became a little bit closer. I remember, hoping, that Roxas wouldn't think that Hayner was taking his place in my heart."_

Hayner stood by me and said, "Don't worry about losing, Ashe. You wouldn't stand a chance against me anyways." He flexed his muscles.

I looked down. Even Hayner's stupid taunts couldn't cheer me up."Everyone knows that I can't win..." I said.

Hayner slapped his forehead. "N-no... I-it's not like that. In fact, you have really GOOD shot at winning. I was just hoping--"

I interrupted. "Hoping to pshyce me out so i'd get made a fool of? I don't blame you. 'Fool' is a better label than 'outsider'." And walked back to my shady bench.

Hayner sighed and Olette came up from behind him. "Whats up Hayner? You look bad." she told him.

He grunted. "I was just trying to make me and her fight so she'd snap out of it and be happy again. But I just made things worse!"

Olette frowned. "I just hope she doesn't forefit from the match. This this is the sole thing that she's been waiting for all summer."

Hanyer nodded. "Yeah..." He looked at me and then at Roxas. "Roxas... I hope you can make things better."

_-!-_

The promoter handed Hayner and Roxas a Struggle hammer. Hayner turned to Roxas and pointed his hammer at him.

Roxas looked over to me, after I finally decided to sit with Pence and Olette. _'Thats it._ He thought. _'This has got to end... for Ashe's sake.'_

Roxas looked up at Hayner. "Hey... sorry about yesterday..." he said.

Hayner looked suprised. "What? You're still worried about that? You need to learn to let that stuff go."

"I've got alot on my mind." Said Roxas.

"Sorry man..." Hayner said. "Wait-- what am I sorry for?" and he smiled. And so did Roxas. All was forgiven.

"Our first match for today will be between Roxas, and his best friend Hayner!" the ref said to the cheering crowd.

Before the match began, Hayner made 1 final statement. "Roxas. I've got to tell you something."

Roxas raised an eyebrow and waited for Hayner to say what he needed to say.

"How about a wager?" He asked.

Roxas looked confused. "What do you mean?" He asked.

Hayner smiled, gripping his Struggle weapon tightly. "Whoever wins this...-"

"--Get's Ashe's heart."

_**"What!?"**_

_---!!!---_

**Updated! Now smother me with love as i start on chapter 7. It'll be done soon :D**

**I realize i'm a horrible fanfiction writer for not updating in so long, but i'm getting a router for my birthday in September! More updates!**

**-Rikku**


	7. Chapter 7: Enemy

_**Silent**Lights**In**The**Darkness**_

**RECAP**

_--"How about a wager?" Hayner asked Roxas in the middle of the Struggle arena._

_"What do you mean?" Roxas asked, confused._

_Hayner gripped his Struggle hammer and narrowed his eyebrows. "Whoever wins this--_

_"Gets Ashe's heart."_

_**"WHAT?!"**_

--!--

**((Roxas' PoV))**

I stared at Hayner, eyes widened and jaw dropped.

I just wanted to shout, "Are you out of your mind, Hayner?!" but I didn't. I didn't do anything. I just swallowed and blinked rapidly. It's all I COULD do...

Hayner grinned."What? You're not even gonna answer me?" he asked.

I bit my bottom lip and looked away from Hayner to you. You were just staring at the ground, moping with the occasional sigh. You slowly looked up to me, those radical eyes shimmering. 'Good luck.' you mouthed.

I looked back at Hayner. Silent.

He laughed. "Fine. I see how it is. Not even gonna talk? Let's get this over with!" he shouted, staring at the ref.

"FIGHT!"

I ran to Hayner, preparing to whack him over his air-head. How could he have even SAID something so stupid? Sure, I liked you, as a friend...

I'm the one who saved your life, for God's sake. There was no way in hell I would fight my best friend for the heart of my other best friend.

Focusing on the battle, I swong at Hayner, giving him a few good hits before sending him to the ground. He quickly regained balence, recollecting the orbs he had lost. I had managed to grab a few before running back.

Hayner charged at me saying, "I'm not gonna lose!".

He swong, and missed. I jumped over him and landed behind him, giving him 4 more good hits. I collected his red orbs and went back to him.

Being stobburn, Hayner wasn't gonna take this from me much longer. Much to stobburn for his own damn good.

He hit me, blue orbs hitting the ground. He got a couple and clutched his hammer tightly. "See that, Roxas? I'm unstoppable!"

I got up, and ran over to Hayner. 20 seconds left before the match was over. I ran to him, trying the reversal move I used on the white-things.

Hayner looked behind his back, but not fast enough before I hit him on the back of his head.

"Go, Hayner!" Olette shouted. "You can do it!" Pence shouted along with her, throwing out a whistle or two every once in a while.

It was almost amazing. For over a day, you have been brooding over your own misery, only to let it fade with mine and Hayner's battle. Struggle was your favorite sport, always keeping you busy and happy.

Your eyes widened, not blinking at the slight violence of the sport. Struggle is amazing.

You stood up from the bench near Pence and Olette, wagging your fist. "Come on, Hayner! You can do better than that! Toughen it up, you wuss!" You shouted.

Hayner stared down at you angrily. "Hey, i'm doing the best I can! Chill out!" He growled at you while blocking my blows.

"Roxas!" You shouted, "Show this baby who's boss!"

I smiled at you, relieved you were better.

"We all know **I** can't last in this Struggle but at least show them your worth something, Hayner!" you said.

I could FEEL the veins on my forehead popping. _'Eh, scratch that last thought.'_

**((Ashe's PoV))**

"3...2...1..." The crowd chanted. Just then a bell rang, causing Roxas and Hayner to stop. They stared at each other, before Hayner realized Roxas had won. Hayner dropped to the ground sadly, laying on his back and sulking.

The ref held up Roxas' hand, "And the winner is, Roxas! Not even friendship will slow this kid down, and Hayner put up a great fight, too!" he said to the eager crowd. They all cheered, congratulating Roxas on his win.

Roxas then looked down at Hayner, looking like he was a mixture of angry and upset. I run up on the ring and kneeled near Hayner, looking at him strangely.

Roxas did too, staring at Hayner wide-eyed.

"I lost..." Hayner said. "Awww, I can't believe it!" he grunted.

I looked down at Hayner for a few moments before bursting out laughing. Rolling on the ground, holding my stomach, I couldn't control the laughs that were escaping my mouth. I thought if I didn't hold my stomach my insides would fall completely out of my body. Somehow, I knew it was a good thing.

"Hey! What's so funny?!" Hayner asked, sitting up.

**" YOU LOST!!!!"** I shouted, pointing a finger at him.

Hayner clenched his fists. "You realize Ashe, this is the first time i've ever seriously wanted to punch a girl, right?" he said.

Roxas laughed a little, too. "I don't think she cares!" he said back.

"You're right!" I responded.

All 3 of us were silent for a few moments before laughing together. Holding each other up, we staggered to our feet.

"Well, I better get ready for my match!" I said with a wave, leaving the ring.

Roxas and Hayner stared at me before looking at each other to talk.

"I guess I taught you well." Hayner said.

"I had alot of fun, fighting you." Roxas said, still lightly laughing.

Hayner smiled, then quickly wiped it off his face. "Yeah, well I didn't wise guy."

"Hey, let's find a way to cheer you up." Roxas said.

Hayner shook his head. "Nah, thats all right. Let's just watch Ashe's match, cheer her on."

"Okay," Roxas said slowly. "Oh, and... Hayner?"

Hayner turned, not annoyed at all, much to Roxas' suprise. "Yeah?" he asked.

"About that thing... you said before the match... about, you know, Ashe...?"

Hayner grinned. "Aw, It was just a joke." He punched Roxas' shoulder. "You should have seen the look on your face..." he said mockingly. "You looked like you were scared to death." He laughed and headed to Pence and Olette, when Seifer came and almost collided with Hayner.

"Watch it." Seifer threatened.

Hayner just smiled widely. "You in a rush to lose?"

--!--

I gripped my little blue hammer tightly, and looked down at the little keychain I attached to it for good luck. It was of Maromi, a cute little chibi pink puppy. Roxas gave it to me about a month ago when we were cleaning his room. Said he didn't want it. Having it be from him made me cherish it all the more.

I kissed the keychain and narrowed my eyebrows. "I won't lose to the likes of you!" I threatened.

"Don't mess with your elders." He shot back.

With only seconds until the match begun, I smiled.

_"Wherever you are, my aniki, i'll make you proud. I'll show everyone..."_

"I'll make you sorry..." I whispered, laughing a little.

Seifer look slightly confused, but shook it off, since he had no reason to care anyway.

"Whew! Look at those sparks fly! I guess Seifer didn't expect to fight his own enemy! Everyone, this might be the match of the century as the newcommer Ashe, takes on our own Diciplinary captain, Seifer!"

Now, I was annoyed. Seifer was just... standing there... staring at me. There was no expression in his eyes. I hated it.

"What are you staring AT?!" I shouted. I ran over to him and swong, but he dodged it and jumped back. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Hayner, Olette and Pence staring at me with their eyes widened.

"When did Ashe get so good?" Hayner asked Roxas.

"She's been... practicing alot lately..." Roxas said. No doubt the was thinking about those weird white thingeys.

Concentrating on my fight, I tried hitting Seifer again, but he dodged it and tried hitting me. I blocked him with my hammer and pushed off into a backflip, making him stumble backwards. "Ha!" I shouted in midair, until I realized of the landing that was drawing nearrer every second.

I landed on my butt. "Owie..." I muttered, slowly getting up and rubbing my (probably now sore) 'rear end'.

Hayner laughed. "Whatsa matter, Ashe? Break you ass-bone?" she shouted. Roxas elbowed him and I yelled "Shut up!" across the ring. I couldn't get distracted now. Seifer's anger was probably growing, since I made him look like an idiot in front of the town.

Seifer raised his blue hammer, and ran torwards me. "Nice landing there, Gracefull!" He shouted. With really no strategy for this particular Struggle battle,(I almost always had a strategy planned) I kind of paniced. But when thinking of the competition, I calmed. I could win this. Hands down.

He came at me and swong. I couldn't believe it, but it looked like he slowed... I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but I used it to my advantage. I ducked, and Seifer was back to regular speed. I rolled backwards and swong at him, which he blocked with his hammer.

I found a weird excitement, and I could just feel the victory in my reach. I continued to hit Seifer, within seconds of the first blow. He blocked for a while, until I stopped hitting and turned my hammer virtically and we were pushing each others hammers together with all our strength. "Sorry for calling me an outsider?" I asked threatningly.

He smirked. "Ha... never..." And he pushed the weapon. He made me fly back so fast, I felt the orb leave the pouch on my side. "You're mine!" He shouted, running for the diamondy silver-colored orb i'd just dropped. But I couldn't let him get even one of my orbs without feeling like a weakling. So I rocked on my back and jumped up, suprising my friends yet again.

I ran in front of Seifer and rolled, putting every last bit of muscle into this one blow.

He flew back.

To the other side of the arena.

And his bright, yellow orbs were MINE for the taking.

Seifer was laying flat on his back, eyes closed and I heard everyone gasp. They were probably already plotting to have Seifer dicipline me, but I ignored it as best I could. I picked up a single orb and looked at it. It looked kinda pretty, and I wondered if the crystals on the trophy were this pretty.

I stared at it for a few seconds until I heard the announcer. "I-I'm not sure what just happend... um... but Ashe is the winner! In a positively blistering comeback!" It was weird, hearing people cheering my name. I felt something new.

Wanted.

I felt wanted. Like I finally belonged here. Like... everyone was beginning to open up and accept me not for the outsider I had been for the person I had blossomed into. And I could tell all of this, because I saw Roxas smile.

--!--

"Ashe, you totally kicked his ass!"

"You were awesome!"

"That was amazing, girl!"

The praise was flowing at a million miles a minute and I felt happier. I won the match, beat Seifer at his own game, seemed wanted (even for only a second) , and had this surge of emotions running through my blood as fast as light.

I could only imagine what was about to come next. But whatever it was, I was ready for it. I told them what the promoter told me after the win.

"Aww, thanks guys. Me and Roxas have to head to the center to see who challenges Vivi. Wish us luck!" I grabbed Roxas' wrist and dragged him to the ring. He almost tripped on every stair and I could hear him laughing the whole time. "Slow down!" He said. "Speed up!" I said back.

When we got to the middle, I was grinning widely, and I thought the butterflys would just fly out of my mouth! "Are you ready?" I asked eagerly.

"Yeah. I'm ready." He said, and we waited for the ref to settle the crowd. When he came back, we were staring at each him, waiting for his instructions.

"Okay, " he said. "We're going to flip a coin to see who faces Vivi. Call it in the air." He flipped the quarter off of his thumb and I called it. "Heads!" I said excitedly. The ref caught it and flipped it over onto the back of his hand.

We anxiously waited for him to raise his palm and show us the results, but he laughed and hesitated. "Pretty nerve-wracking, eh Roxas?" He asked.

_Roxas._

Not _guys_

Or _kids_

Or _Roxas And Ashe_

Just, _Roxas_

I guess my premonition of welcoming had flawed. I felt saddend, but I couldn't, knowing I had the slim chance of getting to Struggle again, and for another second feel wanted.

"Y-yeah..." Roxas said. I could tell he felt the same way that I did. We might have been thinking the same thing.

The ref lifted his palm and showed us the coin.

Tails.

"Tails." He said. "Roxas, you'll face Vivi, and the winner will go against her to see who will battle Setzer for the championchip. Sound okay to you?" We both nodded and I headed for the end. I turned back and have Roxas a big hug.

"Good luck!" I said, squeezing harder every second. "Okay, okay!" He said, slowly losing breath. I let go and smiled.

"In other words, win or else!" I added. "Vivi might be better than me! At least when i'm up against you, I know I can win!" I joked.

He just shook his head and ran up to the ring.

"And I mean it!"

**--!--**

**WoOt! Yay! ((Remember, the name is pronounced Ah-she. My friends didn't quite catch that until I told them. lol))**

**Workin on the next chapter right now!**

**-Rikku**


	8. Chapter 8: Listen

_**Silent**Lights**in**the**Darkness**_

I stood anxious at the side of the ring, barely able to wait for the match to begin.

It was Roxas versus Vivi, and I wasn't exactly sure about how good Vivi could be.

The promoter stepped into the ring, in between them. "And now, for the third match of the day, Roxas versus Vivi!" he said.

And they started.

_--!--_

The match was almost over, 20 seconds left. Vivi had just given Roxas a hit that made him 10 orbs shy of a victory.

"Careful, Roxas!" I shouted. Vivi had given him a pretty hard hit to the head, and i'm suprise the ref didn't catch it.

I watched as he wiped a small trace of blood from his mouth and got up, preparing his last swing, hopefully enough to make him win. I really, really wanted to go against Roxas. That Vivi is alot better than I thought.

He lifted the hammer, pulled back... I was so excited! My adrenaline was flowing so fast, the fear of losing, gave it an edge. He's gonna hit Vivi! He'll surely win! He's--

--then everything stopped.

Wavy lines encircled the air and everything I was froze except for Roxas, Vivi, and myself. I stared at Roxas, who looked just as confused as me.

Then I turned to our friends. Completely still.

"H-hey!" I said, waving my hands in front of Hayner. Nothing.

I walked to Olette, and snapped my fingers in front of her face multiple times. Silent.

I went to Pence, and lightly pulled on his earlobe. "W-whats' goin' on?" I asked.

I looked up at the ring, and saw Vivi transform into a white monster! I ran up to the ring next to Roxas, and he said, "Again!?"

They keyblade appeared in both our hands. "Again...?" He repeated.

I swallowed hard, and wondered what would happen. Was this gonna continue for the rest of our lives?

I shook my head. There was a time and place for thinking. Now; was not one of those times, or those places.

We prepared to fight.

_--!--_

We won the battle of the transformed Vivi, but it was alot harder than I thought it would be. We've taken on those things before, but this one was baaaad.

I fell to my knees, my hair covering my face. Roxas and I were panting hard, trying to catch our breath. After a few moments of rest, I threw my arms up in the air and shouted. "Whoo-hoo! Who wants a piece of this?!"

I heard my echo... it was so eerie...

Roxas looked around the sandlot suspiciously, and we heard clapping.

We both jumped, and looked at the person standing there, applauding.

"Roxas, alright. Fight, fight, fight." he said.

_"By that voice, I could tell it was Axel. I knew he wouldn't really want to hurt me, since we've talked before, but I still wasn't going to take any chances."_

"You really don't remember? It's me, you know..." He took down his hood to reveal that familliar spikey red head of his.

"Axel." I finnished.

"Right-o." He said.

Roxas looked confused. "Axel?" he asked.

"Talk about blank with a capital 'B'." He said. "Man, oh, man. Even the dusks aren't gonna crack this one.

As he was talking, his two funky chakrams appeared.

"Wait a sec-- tell me what's goin on!" Roxas said annoyed.

Axel looked around with a smile. "This town is his creation, right? Which means we don't have time for a Q and A. You two. You're coming with me, conscious or not. Then you'll hear the story." He flipped his rings with his fingers.

Roxas looked angry, and anxious. I put my hand on his shoulder and tried to calm him. "It's okay, Roxas. We've spoken before, and he doesn't want to fight. He only talks tough..."

Axel laughed. "Oh, so I answer a few questions and i'm automatically labeld a sissy-boy, huh? Well, i'm not supposed to hurt you, Ashe. That doesn't mean I can't."

I felt a chill go down my spine.

_He had the will to kill me._

The wavy lines in the air came back, and I hoped the best was to come. Turns out, I was wrong.

"Uh-oh..." Axel said quietly.

Despite my efforts, Roxas was still angry. I tried to do something, but he moved beofre I could.

He clenched his keyblade and growled. I didn't know what to do...

"What's going ON!?" he shouted, throwing the keyblade down. It slid across the arena, and the keychain made a clankey noise.

We were silent, until Roxas looked confused, and unintentionally put his right hand in front of his body, and the keyblade appeared quickly. There was a breeze, and some of my hair brushed my face.

"Number 13. Roxas." Axel said, and he twirled his chakrams. "The Keyblade's chosen one."

Our keyblades shined.

"Okay, fine. You asked for it!" Roxas said, readying a battle stance.

I smiled lightly, narrowed my evebrows, and nodded.

"Thats what i'm talkin about." Axel said, pleased.

We began to fight.

_--!--_

It started out rough. Somehow I already knew, that this man, Axel, could control Fire.

His fire attacks were flawless. Beautiful, yet deadly at the same time. I'm a natural pyro myself.

We hit him with alot, but then came his better attacks. "BURN BABY!" He said, and threw his burning chakrams atraight at me!

They hit, and the spikes scraped me, while the fire burned my open wounds.

"Ashe!" Roxas shouted, as I fell to the ground.

He seemed angrier now, and ran for Axel. He hit him non-stop, until Axel finally stepped away for a second, to plot another attack.

I examined my arm, there were some deep cuts, and maybe first degree burns... I wanted to fight.

Roxas wouldn't let me. He said, "Stay down. I'll handle him."

I tried to get up. "But you'll-!"

"No!" He said forcefully.

I sat still. I sometimes wondered why he was always so protective of me...

He looked back at Axel, and make one final blow...

"Not bad, Roxas"

_--!--_

I looked and saw a man in red appear behind me in a flurry of pixels.

Axel smiled and said, "So it was you." then he flipped his chakrams on his fingers, as they gathered emebers of flame and speed... and he threw them at the man.

A forcefeild stopped them, and Roxas got down to help me up.

"Roxas! This man speaks nonsence!" he said.

Roxas put my arm around his shoulder, and Axel cried, "Roxas! Don't let him decieve you!"

"Roxas!"

"Roxas!"

A collauge of Roxas' echoed and the waves came back to the atmosphere. I hugged Roxas, to comfort him, to protect him from these people.

Turns out he wanted to protect me.

He put his forehead to mine, and we took the voices for as long as we could.

Roxas and I dropped to our knees, holding our hands to our ears, hoping to drown out the noise. It wouldn't work.

I felt tears of fear fall down my cheeks. I wanted to go home.

"Hayner... Pence... Olette..." I whispered.

"Hayner! Pence! Olette!" Roxas shouted, almost as soon as I said that.

The voices ceased, and I was where I had started at the beginning of the match.

Pence looked down and saw me on the ground.

"Are you okay?" He asked, helping me up.

"Y-Yeah, i'm fine." I said. But something scared me. Scared me shitless.

The scars on my arms... were _gone._

There was nothing there, but I still felt the pain... for a few seconds. Then, all pain vanished.

The only thing I saw was the ref, holding up Roxas' arm, symbolizing victory.

Hayner, Pence, and Olette ran up on the platform, and I followed.

Hayner slapped his back, and everyone applauded.

I ran behind him, and slowly gave him a hug.

I rested my head on his shoulder blade.

He didn't move.

_--!--_

**Hurrah! I feel so proud.**

**Chapter 9 will be up by the end of Thanksgiving weekend.**

**Thanks for all the reviews! I love them all!**

**-Rikku**


	9. Chapter 9: Sorry

_**Silent**Lights**in**the**Darkness**_

_--!--_

Roxas was standing by the wall, Hayner and Pence by him.

"Roxas?" Hayner said.

I looked at him, a little concerned. That fight with Axel wasn't exactly expected.

"What are you so mopey about?" I said. "You get to fight me!"

Roxas looked up at me slowly. "Well, what about all that stuff that just happened? With Axel...?"

"What?" Hayner asked, raising an eyebrow.

I grinned widely, and linked my arm with Roxas. I laughed nervously and pulled him away from Hayner. "Would you excuse us for a second?" I said, never losing that huge smile.

When we were far enough away from everyone, I talked to him. "Roxas! We can't let them know what happened, alright?" I said.

"Why?" He asked. "I don't understand any of this..."

"I don't either..." I said, silence falling between us for a few moments. I shook it off.

"B-but we can't mention this to Olette, Pence, or Hayner. If we get them involved, they might end up getting hurt. Do you understand that?" I said.

"Y-yeah..." he answered.

I nodded. "Okay. So, from now on, if anything like that happeneds ever ever again, we have to promise to keep it between us, alright?"

"..."

"Roxas?"

He blinked and shook his head lightly. "Oh, um... yeah. Sorry..."

I gave him a concerned smile and walked away.

**-Roxas' PoV-**

None of this is making sense. I want it all to end, I want everything to go back to normal.

Eating ice cream, screwing around with each other, having fun... being regular teenagers.

I wonder if everything will go back soon.

"Roxas!"

I looked over at Olette, who shouted my name. "Huh?" I said, a little dazed.

"You better get up there!" She shouted back. "You're up!"

"Oh!" I said, and ran up to the ring where Ashe was waiting. She leaned on her hammer, giving me a challenging look.

"Well, it's about time. I thought you were gonna lean on that stupid wall all day!" she said.

I laughed. "Yeah well, I hope you didn't think you were gonna win." I said back.

She smiled, and stood ready. I did the same.

"Roxas, good luck. " The ref said, and he walked away.

I looked at Ashe, sad because he didn't take notice to her.

"Hey, what about--"

I cut her off, and hugged her. "Good luck." I said.

When I let go, she had a devilish grin on her face. "Don't think i'll take it easy on you!" she said.

I stepped back, "I don't think I want you to."

**-Ashe's PoV-**

That hug kinda threw me back a little. But hey, at least I got a good luck outa someone.

"FIGHT!"

I ran to Roxas, hammer held high. I leapt up, flipped, and swong, but he ducked. I turned around and swong, but he ducked again.

Then, I ried to swing under, but her jumped and hit me.

I went back a couple feet, and lost 5 of my silver orbs.

I got up and pointed my hammer at him. "You're gonna het it now!" I said, running. I attempted a round-off, to gather some speed for a more effective hit, but it didn't work as well as i'd planned, because I fell right on my ass.

"Aw, come on!" I shouted, getting up quickly. Stupid me, that left an opening for Roxas. He swong, but I was lucky and quick enough to block him. I spun around, and swong, hitting him on the head.

He lost 5 orbs, which I got back. He stood up, and ran at me. I stayed in my place, ready for another attack.

He swong at me, but I ducked and hit at his feet. That got me 2 orbs, and I hit him again on his way to the ground, giving me another 3.

Before he could get hit again, he rolled away and stood up.

"Come on, Roxas. I was hoping for a bit if a challenge!" I said.

He gave me a look, and said, "You're askin' for it now!" Then he took a swing at me. I didn't have enough time to duck, so I had to block him. I caught his hammer with my own, and pushed him back.

When he came at me again, I slid in between his legs.

He freaked.

"Heyheyheyheyhey! Personal space!" He shouted behind him. I took a hard swing at him while he was off-guard.

"Are you almost out of orbs yet, man!?" I asked.

He smiled, "Aren't you?"

I closed my eyes and grinned, "Nope! But now that you mention it, this is the perfect time to gloat!" I rested my hammer on my shoulder. "I've got so many of your orbs that i'm almost positive that i'm goin-"

Roxas took a swing at me, but I blocked. "Ya see? I'm SO gonna win!"

He smiled, raised an eyebrow, and pointed down. I looked. "Huh?"

The second I did, he swong at my feet and I fell. "You cheated!" I shouted, as he kept trying to hit me.

"No, that was your fault. Once you start bragging, only a hit can take you out of it!" he said.

I pushed him far enough so I could get up safely. "Says you!"

We ran to each other, then I did something only a girl can do, without getting make fun of, to a boy.

I slid under his legs again, and kicked 'im.

Right in the nads.

The crowd gasped, and went silent.

"Hahaha ha ha!! Yeah, Ashe!" That was Hayner, laughing histerically at Roxas' pain. But probably laughing more at me, because I used a cheap shot.

Roxas held himself, and his eyes were really wide. "Oh..."

I bit my bottom lip, trying to hold in the laughter.

"OWWWWWWWW!!!!" He screamed. "Did you... did you have to do THAT!?"

"Sorry, Roxas!" I said, giggling. I hit him square on the back, and he lurched forward.

"Okay, you're seriously in for it now!" He said, running at me, swinging mercilessly.

"Eeep!" I shreiked. I blocked all I could, but he was fast. Really fast. There was only one way out of this, and I knew it would end... badly.

I tried a backflip. I remember, hoping, pleading, that I wouldn't land on my head, snap my neck and die.

And I didn't. I landed. On my FEET.

"I...I did it? I did it!" I said, jumping up and down.

"Lucky, but i'm not done with you yet!" He said.

We began a barrage of swinging, and Roxas was winning. His blows were hard, and even harder to block.

"Hey! Take-take it easy, man!" I begged.

"Yeah, right!" He said, knocking me to the ground, and re-claiming 7 orbs.

I got up, not ready to give, and he hit me 4 times, getting around 6 to 8 orbs with each hit.

I looked up to him, wondering of he was done hitting, but then he hit my chin upwards, and I flew up in the air and flipped backwards twice, then rolled on the ground.

I tasted the coppery blood on my lips and on my tongue, and everyone was still cheering.

I stayed still.

"Nice try, Ashe." he said.

I was still silent, and unmoving.

"Come on, get up!" He urged.

Nothing.

"Ashe?" he said, running to me.

"Come on, Ashe..." I heard Hayner say, worried.

"Is she okay?" Olette asked.

Pence shrugged. " I don't know. That was a bad hit. Hey, Ashe! Are you okay?"

I didn't say anything.

Roxas got down on both his knees and looked at me. "Ashe?" He said, concerned.

"Gotcha!" I shouted.

"Oh..."

I hit Roxas, only getting 3 orbs with that.

I got up. "That really hurt!" I said, licking the blood off of my lips.

"Yeah, well that hurt what you did to my crotch!" he said, re-living the pain.

Hayner shouted, "But it was funny as hell!"

I looked down at him, and Roxas struck me 4 times.

"Owie, owie, owie!" I cried, losing more and more orbs. When Roxas was done hitting me, I scolded Hayner.

"You idiot, you distracted me!" I said.

He laughed. "That was the point!"

"Keep your guard up!"

I turned, and saw Roxas coming at me. He hit me up, and I flew into the air.

He jumped, as I just flipped around in the air, defenceless. So, I just closed my eyes, and braced myself for the pain to be inflicted on me.

I wish I hadn't 'uh kicked 'im.

He hit my stomach, and I went down, losing 5 orbs. When my back hit the ground, without skipping a beat, Roxas went in for the kill.

He slid and stuck out his foot, about ready to hit my side... but he stopped. Right before he got to me, like very last second before, ya know?

My eyes closed tight, I opened one shyly, and looked down to him. He was smiling.

I blew my bangs out of my face and rolled my eyes. "Okay, okay, you win."

The crowed cheered loudly for Roxas' win. He helped me up and we walked off the ring.

"Man, Ashe, Roxas kicked your ass BAD." Hayner said, laughing. "That had to have been the absoloute best Struggle match in the history of forever!"

I closed my eyes and swiped my thinb across my nose and pouted. "Yeah, I was kinda there, bakka. I know what happened."

Olette giggled. "It's okay, Ash... you did good out there!" Pence nodded, "Yeah! You really deserve this..." he pulled out a special blue sea-salt ice cream bar.

"Oh, yes! You guys rock!" I glanced at Hayner, and poked his forehead. "Everyone except you..." I said, taking a big bite.

He crossed his arms, "Yeah, whatever."

There was a pause and I have Hayner a hug. "Aw, i'm sorry, man." I said, offering him a bite.

Pence was dumbfounded, like everyone else. "You're... sorry?" he said slowly.

Olette put the back of her hand on my forehead. "A-are you sick?" She turned to Roxas and swiped away his hammer. "You hit her too hard!"

Roxas held up his hands defensivley. "Hey! I didn't mean for it to go this far!" He said.

Me and Hayner rolled our eyes. "Come on, guys," I said, "it's not THAT suprising."

Pence knocked on out heads. "Hellooo? You two, you know, hate each other!"

"You fight all the time!" Olette finnished.

Hayner shrugged. "We made up." I nodded in argeement.

It was silent... and then we all laughed.

"Well, get ready for your match, Roxas! It'll start soon!" I said, pulling him behind me so he could take on Seifer in the back alley.

"Okay, let's go!"

**WoOt! Let's get those reviews, people! I love them like tacos, and I love them good.**

**-Rikku**


	10. Chapter 10: Rememberance

_**Silent**__Light__**in**__the__**Darkness**_

"Roxas! It's starting!" Olette shouted into the alley.

"Hold up a second! We'll be right there!" Roxas said back.

Ready...?" I asked.

"Ready when you are." he said.

click

Another picture of beating Seifer to add to our wonderful collection.

"Let's get 'a goin, man!" I said, running back to the sandlot.

"Right behind 'ya!" he said, but ended up passing me.

"Are you excited!?" I asked, holding his hands and jumping up and down.

He grinned. "You bet I am!"

I squealed, and Roxas let go of me and stuck his pinkey in his ear. "Whoa. Are you really this hyped up?"

"You bet I am!" I said, running back to talk to Olette.

He shook his head and smiled. Then walked up to the promoter to begin his final match with the one and only-- Setzer.

"SEETZEERRR!!!" the women shreiked from the crowd.

"ROOOXAAAAAS!!" Olette, Hayner and I cried in a pretend flirtatious voice. Pence just watched, emberassed to even be seen with us. (A/N: and i thought Hayner was the cool one...)

**Roxas' PoV**

The promoter handed us our struggle hammers. "Play fair now, you two." he said, "you're at the top of the bracket!"

Setzer looked down at me all the way up from his pedestal and said, "There's only room for one up here."

The promoter gave a small chuckle, "Well, may the best man win."

_'I intend to...'_ I thought. _'There's no way i'm losing to this douche bag. sigh... I really am hanging around Ashe too much. That's all she's been calling Hayner lately.'_

"Hey, Rucksack."

Setzer snapped me from my thoughts and I looked up.

"How about, you throw the match for me?" he asked.

"Roxas!" I looked back at Hayner and Ashe, who were cheerleading for me. "Focus!" Ashe did a hand stand and Hayner held up her feet so she wouldn't fall. He rested his head on her shoes, the they both grinned up at me.

"Win or don't come home!" Ashe shouted.

"Let me win and i'll make it worth your while."

I locked Setzer in a glare, "Get real!"

The sound system kicked in as I readied myself for the fight.

"Roxas, our underdog hero, versus Setzer, our defending champion! The winner of this match will be the true champion! That's bragging rights for the whole year, folks!" the man said over the intercom.

"Whatever you think is right, you're wrong. And that, is a big mistake." he said to me. I took a breath. He's just the champion, can't be that hard, right?

_--!--_

Fortunatly, I was right! The way that that match went, my only real competition was Ashe, and I beat her, too. It was kind of like taking candy from a dyslexic baby, only that candy was the really crappy kind, you know, that's not really name brand, but generic? Yeah. Like that. And then, you don't even get the candy in the end.

"..."

What?

"Roxas! Roxas! Roxas!" the crowd was shouting. My strange and confusing thoughts ceased, when Hayner shouted my name up on the platform.

"You did it!" Olette said, Pence and Ashe behind her.

"That was awesome, Roxas!" said Pence.

Ashe sped up and crashed right into me. "Way to go!" she said happily.

The promoter walked over to me and handed me the crystal trophy and the belt. Hayner held the trophy, and I held up one side of the belt, and let Ashe take the other side. Just to show them all, that big Ashe's don't cry.

_--!--_

After all of the commotion, we escaped to the station tower. I gripped the 5-crystal trophy, admiring it's beauty one last time.

I look off the yellow one to Olette, and tossed it to her.

I did the same, a green one to Pence, and the red one to Hayner. Then I handed the diamond one to Ashe, who was right next to me. Lastly, for myself, I took the blue one and held it up to the sun. I'm not exactly sure why, but it seemed like a good idea.

"As promised." I said, not taking my eyes off of the shiney crystal, light coursing through just the right way.

"Thanks a ton, Roxas!" I heard from Pence, as everyone did the same.

Hayner smiled, "One more treasure for us to share."

It was silent for a few moments as everyone looked intently through their spheres, until Olette broke the silence.

"I've got a present, too. For all of us!" and she took out 5 sea salt ices.

I gripped my crystal and stood up quickly. A little too quickly. My foot slipped on the edge, and I felt myself stumbling. My back faced the town, as I looked back at my friends for what to me felt like might be the final time.

"Roxas!"

I looked, and Ashe was attempting to save me. She reached out, and her hand grabbed mine.

"Ashe, don't--!" I said, and shook her off. If I had taken her hand, she could have fallen...

She lost her grip, since I gave no effort, and I fell.

"Roxas!"

_--!--_

**The Non-Existant Voice--**

"Kairi! Wait up!"

The dark red-headed girl waited, and turned to see her hyper brunette friend catch up to her. She smiled when she had someone to walk with.

They fell into step together, and the brunette spoke up. She had 'SELPHIE' written all over her purse in a crude manor.

"Hey, do you feel like going out to the island today? Tidus and Wakka are all wrapped up in their ballgame, and they won't go with me!" she said, hopefull.

The red-headed one, Kairi, looked a little sorry for her friend. "Not today, sorry." she said, and continued walking.

Selphie stopped for a moment, but started walking again and looked at Kairi sadly. "Aw, why not?" she asked.

Kairi looked straight ahead. "Do you remeber those boys who used to hang out with us?" she asked Selphie.

"Riku?"

"Yeah."

Selphie's tone changed, and she was a little more disappointed. "I wonder whatever happend to him? I sure miss him." she said.

"He's far away," Kairi said, sure that Riku was okay, "but I know we'll see him again."

Selphie looked a little happier, believing Kairi's words of hope. "Sure, of course we will."

"And the other boy?"

Selphie seemed confused. There was no other boy... "What other boy?" she asked.

Kairi continued to look out onto the island that Selphie wanted to visit. "The one who was with Riku and me all the time. We played together on that island. His voice used to be there, but now it's gone. I can't think of his face or his name... I feel awful about it. So I told myself-- I'm not going back to the island until I can remember everything about him."

Selphie looked at Kairi, a bit concerned. "Are you sure you didn't make him up?" she asked.

Kairi nodded, and was interrupted when a pain shot all throughout her head.

"Namine?" she heard, and held her forehead.

_--!--_

"Namine...? What's happening to me?" he asked desperatly as he fell fro the top of the tower.

"Who are you?" a girl in his head asked him. "And that's not my name. I'm Kairi."

"Kairi..." he said, thinking back, trying to remember where he had heard that name before. "I know you. You're that girl he likes."

"Who?" Kairi asked a little calm at first. "Please, a name!" she asked a little more desperatly.

"I'm Roxas." he said. Though not too well of a time for a proper introduction.

"Okay, Roxas. But can you tell me HIS name?" she asked impatiently.

"You don't remember my name? Thanks a lot Kairi." a different boy said.

Kairi's little gasp could be heard in Roxas' mind.

"O-kay..." the other boy said. "I guess I can give you a hint. Starts with a 'S'!"

_--!--_

Kairi had fainted for a breif amount of time, and Selphie got down to help her up and brush some of the dirt off of her school clothes. "Are you okay?" she asked.

She looked up and nodded, and stared out onto the ocean. She stood and smiled, looking down at Selphie, and ran.

_--!--_

Selphie caught up to Kairi a while later, and she was down at the beach.

"Kairi?" she said, becoming more concerned of her friend's sanity.

Kairi bent down and took a bottle with a letter in it out of her bag. She set it in the water, and the water carried it off.

"What's that?" Selphie asked.

"A letter." Kairi answered with a soft tone. "I wrote it yesterday, to the boy I can't remember. I said that I'd find him. One day. And when I stopped writing, I remebered we made a promise, something important. This letter is where it starts- I know it."

"Wow..." Selphie said, beginning to wish she had a dreamy, far away boy, too. "I hope he gets it."

"He will." Kairi said with a smile. "'Starts with an 'S''. Right... Sora?"

_--!--_

"His progress is astounding." the man with red bandages said, impressed.

A man in a black coat was tossing a blue crystal, "So what happened?" he asked, putting the crystal into an orange pouch.

"Namine's encounter with Roxas but his heart in contact with Kairi's. And that, in turn affected Sora. And when Namine re-chained Sora's memories back to the way they were, she included Ashe, connecting her and Riku again. You see?"

"Namine..." the hodded man said, "she's a wonder."

"She wasn't born like other nobodies. She can interfere with the hearts and memories of Sora and those alligned with him." he explained to the hooded man.

"But whose nobody is she?" the man asked the one at the computer.

"I could tell you..." he said. " but perhaps you could tell me your true name?" he asked.

The man took down his hood to reveal a tanned, muscular guy, with yellow eyes and long, white hair. "It's Ansem."

The bandaged man looked away, and laughed for a few moments. "It's an honor, Ansem." he said, a little sarcasam in his voice.

_--!--_

First, he was falling.

Falling.

Just that.

Taking his last breaths, and apologizing in his mind to whoever he wronged, remembering each and every regret.

He shot up.

Only in his bed. He breathed in, and looked around, then down onto his bed. "I'm dreaming..." he said, calming himself down. "but which parts... were the dream?"

_--!--_

**I feel i should't be rewarded for not updating for so long. but thats a conesquence of moving! I've been packing all of mine && my mom's junk since NOVEMBER. (we have a lot of crap in out basement, and she's been putting off the date. Though now, it should be next month!)**

**And now for the bad news. Since this is my mom's boyfriend's computer, and we're moving to get away from him, i'm not going to be able to update until I get internet onto MY computer with a non-existant router. (it's a windows '97-'98.)**

**Good now! I'm now officially on summer vacation! So I will have a chance to write all day long! Since this story is kind of like a prequal, you can expect the SEQUAL (and/or the actual story) when I get my internet! Might not be for a while, but good things take time! hehe.**

**PLEASE DON'T HATE ME! i love having friends... and i love reviews. but i don't deserve them. until the next chapter I put up!**

**-Rikku**


	11. Chapter 11: Ream

_**Silent**__Light__**in**__the__**Darkness**_

Olette stared at Hayner intensely, her hands on her hips.

"Only three days left of summer vacation, so don't even mention that assignment!" he said, trying to sound in charge.

"But we agreed we'd get it finnished today." she shot back.

"Yesterday, I fell off the station tower, didn't I?" I asked, coming out of my daze.

"You wouldn't be here if you did!" Hayner said, staring at me like I was crazy.

"But man, was that a close one. If Ashe hadn't caught you that last second, you would've been a mess of blood and guts." Pence said.

Hayner stretched out his arm as if to push Pence away, "Gah! We don't need details, thanks!" he said, closing his eyes tighly.

Olette glared at Hayner. "Stop changing the subject!"

"Okay, you win. We'll do the homework. Stupid independent study." Hayner said, defeated. "So, anyone got any bright ideas for a topic?" he asked, looking around at everyone.

I looked up, "Maybe, we could do the stuff that's happening to me. You know- the dreams, and the guys in white."

"Forget it."

I looked to Hayner, taken aback a little because I didn't expect him to be that up front about it. Actually, I did, but still.

"Why?" I asked.

"You know, things have been weird with you and the town since the photos were stolen, right?" Hayner said.

I tilted my head a little bit. "What about Ashe?"

Hayner did the same, "What about her?"

I was confused a little, but then it clicked. She's been good about not showing any signs of involvement, while I, sucked. It's only natural she didn't want to stand out more than needed.

"N-nothing..." I said quietly. "Go on..."

"Well," Pence started, "Tomorrow, we're all gonna search the town to find out what's goin' on."

"Lots of people are helping out." Olette added.

I couldn't think of what to say, except, "All that for me?..." I smiled, "I'll go get some ice cream." and I turned and ran.

"Get Ashe, too!" Hayner shouted, "She's late again!"

_--!--_

**Ashe's PoV**

"Hey, there you are!" Olette said, and waved at me to sit my her on the couch.

"Sorry," I said, holding my half-finnished ice cream. "I was a little busy..."

"Doing what?" Pence asked.

-----

_I sat on the edge of my bed, talking to Axel as he sat across from me in my pod chair._

_Instead of scaring me, he explained to me about the Chain of Memories, and how they affected me, Roxas and Sora._

_"Who's Sora?" I asked._

_He smiled that certain smile, (and he looked pretty handsome if I do say so myself!) that made me think he knew everything._

_"He's just some guy. In fact," he said, laughing a little. "I'm sure when you see him, you'll remember him quite well."_

_I pulled my knees up to my chest. "I had another dre- I mean, a premonition last night." I told him._

_"Really?" he asked, leaning forward a bit and putting his finger on his chin. "What about?"_

_"Well," I started, "There was this tall dog walking on it's back feet. And there was a duck too. But, there was also that brown-haired boy. I've been seeing him alot lately, since I keep waking up in the middle of the night. And... Namine. She was there, too."_

_"You know Namine?" Axel asked._

_I covered my mouth. "I... Well, I-I didn't know that her name was Namine... I just, you know, knew what it was just now... umm..." my voice trailed off and he laughed a little bit._

_"Don't worry. I'm not exactly expecting you to explain everything. But anyway, you've been seeing Sora in your premonitions, too. That's who the brown-haired kid is. And believe me, he's one determined runt." Axel said, standing up._

_"Aw, you're leaving already?" I asked._

_He smiled, "So, you're actually starting to like me now? I thought you'd hate me since what happened at your little contest thing with Roxas."_

_I shook my head. "How can I hate you? You're super awesome, Axel!"_

_He walked to the window. "Really, i'm flattered." He said, and gave me his trademark smirk. "Hopefully, next time we meet--_

_You'll remember your true name."_

_Without any hesitation after his confusing comment, I ran to the window, a little angry. I waved my fist out the window into the air and shouted, "Can't you leave just ONE time without saying some angsty mysterious comment?!" at Axel, but he was already gone, and Roxas was right behind me._

_"Ashe... whooo are you shouting at?" he asked._

_I turned around, suprised to see him standing right there. What would Roxas think if I told him i'd been talking to Axel?_

_"No one really," I said nonchalantly. "There were some gooses flying in, and I yelled at them."_

_He raised an eyebrow and smiled at me. (I'm beginning to think all of the boys in Twilight Town have handsome smiles! Except for Seifer. That was just... ew.)_

_"And they give you angsty mysterious comments every time they leave your house?" he asked in a jokingly manner._

_I nodded and stuck out my tongue. "Mhmm!" I said, pointing to the window._

_He just shook his head and we both laughed. He tossed me a sea salt ice, and signaled for me to follow him. "C'mon. I came to get you before I headed back to the Usual Spot."_

---

"...Nothing really. Just listening to the birds outside my room. It's so relaxing, you could just fall asleep over and over again!" I said, keeping my alabi super-believeible.

Olette sighed, "I know, every time I spend the night at your house, it gets more beautiful every time. I wish I could live in the woods like you, Ashe!"

"Ooh! Look who's changing the subject now, Olette!" Hayner said. "What about your precious homework?"

"We need a topic, now don't we Hayner?" she asked triumphantly.

He was defeated. All Hayner could do was eat his sea salt ice, and think of a topic like the rest of us.

_--!--_

Out of the silence, Pence spoke out, giving us a relif from thinking for a while. "There's a rumor going around, wanna hear it?" he asked. We all nodded and he continued. "You know those steps at Sunset Station? We use 'em all the time without even noticing it. But- and this is the weird part- the steps count different going up and down!"

Mine and Hayner's mouths dropped.

"Seriously!?" Hayner asked in disbeleif.

"And there are 6 other weird stories like that. It's like, the 7 wonders of Twilight Town." Pence explained.

"We should investigate those wonders for our school project! Pence, you're a genius!" Hayner shouted, waving his bare popscicle stick around.

"There might be other rumors going around. Let's split up!" said Pence, "I'm going to look for the 7 wonders..."

Hayner stood, "Olette and I will go look for some new rumors. C'mon!" and Olette and Hayner ran out of the Usual Spot and to Market Street.

I stood up proudly and pointed to myself with my thumb, "...and I'll start on the paper!"

"That leaves you and me, Roxas." he said. "Let's try the station first."

_--!--_

When Pence and Roxas arrived at the station, Pence started up with his lame jokes. It's strange, because they always make me giggle. They're not really funny, but they're so stupid they make you laugh, ya know?

"The time has come, our hunt for the 7 wonders begins..." Pence said.

Thats when I walked in with Olette and Hayner.

"Whoa! Find new rumors already?" Pence asked.

"Nothing on Market Street." said Olette sadly.

"And the Common was totally deserted!" I added.

Hayner TOTALLY stole my nose swipe and said to them, "You twerps aren't going to scoop us. We're going to the terrace with you."

Olette and I turned to him. "Hayner!" we said.

"It's not a race!" Olette finnished.

Hayner crossde his arms like me and we were put into a super-glare. "Well, it is now." he said.

Roxas laughed, "C'mon, we can all go." he said.

And with that, we got into the train and headed for the terrace.

_--!--_

I sat by Pence on the train, and we played tag for a little while. Well, we were sitting down, and poking each other, whispering "you're it" over and over. That is, until Hayner yelled at us to stop.

Following the awkwardness, Pence took out his green crystal, and elbowed me to take mine out too. Olette and Hayner did the same. I looked over at Roxas, who was to the left of me, and he smiled. I watched him as he checked all of his pockets, but he couldn't find it. He looked so sad and disapointed...

So I scooted over by him and let him look through my pretty clear crystal with me. I think mine was the best, because you could see rainbows through it.

_--!--_

"Olette! Hurry!"

That was all I heard before Hayner bolted out of the train, dragging Olette behind him. Pence, Roxas and I got off the train and got down to the 1st loft of the stairs. Roxas looked down onto them and asked, "Hey, aren't these the steps you talked about? The ones that count different going up and down?"

Pence scratched the back of his head. "Well... actually, it's the stupidest thing ever, but... Rai's the one who counted! He's like, 'Every time I count it's different, 'YA KNOW?' Ha ha ha!"

I giggled a little bit, but Roxas seemed less humored than Pence and I. "So... he just counted wrong?" he asked.

"Well, obviously!" I retorted. "This IS Raijin we're talking about after all."

Roxas's shoulders sunk and I laughed. I put my hand on his back, and, in a cheerful manor, said, "Aw, it's okay Roxy!"

"Yeah man, no worries." Pence added.

I nodded, "We've got like, 6 other wonderful wonders to investigate!" I started running down the stairs and when I got to the bottom, Roxas and Pence were still at the top. "Well, aren't you guys coming?"

Pence shook his head. "Nah, i'm more of a, 'behind-the-scenes' guy. You guys go, and I've got a map of the 7 wonders if you need some help."

I shrugged and waved for Roxas to come. "Let's go!"

_--!--_

Roxas and I were walking when we came across the 'Friend Beyond the Wall' as Pence called it on his map. I was writing all of them down when Roxas told me we were there.

He stopped and pointed to the wall. "Well, here's the first stop."

I sat down indian style at the end of the alley, while Roxas went to investigate.

"You coming?" he asked.

I shook my head. "You investigate and i'll write down the calateral for the paper." I said.

He shrugged, and turned back torwards the wall and touched it. I had my head down and I was writing when a ball came out and hit me on the head! "Roxas!" I shouted.

He looked back at me, his neck sunk into his shoulders. "I-I didn't do anything!" he said, as another ball flew out from the wall.

"No! I mean make it stop!" I demanded.

I got out of the way of the open alley as he jumped over the spheres and touched the wall, and they finally ceased.

"Whoa! What was that!?" I heard Pence cry behind me as the last ball flew from the brick alley. He ran up to me as Roxas walked out of the alley.

"Ask him." I said, pointing the finger of blame at Roxas as my head was down writing.

"Oh, it's just you, Roxas. Were you throwing a ball? That ball flew out of nowhere and totally startled me. Hey, I know! That explains one of the 7 wonders!" said Pence.

He and Roxas walked away, but I stayed at the end of the alley, staring at the wall. Finally, I turned and faced them, my hands on my hips, one eyebrow raised. I closed my eyes and shrugged, and ran behind them. Something mysterious was going on with that wall... there was black stuff coming out of the spot Roxas touched.

_--!--_

When I caught up to Roxas and Pence, they were looking at the map. "What's next Cap'n Pence?" I asked, saluting.

They both raised an eyebrow at me, but shook it off and looked at the map.

"Uhh... next on the list is 'The Moans from the Tunnel'. It's right here." He said, pointing to the underground concourse. "People have been hearing moans in there, and they think it could be supernatural activity."

I took out my notebook and began writing, "Moans... from... the..." I stopped, and poked Roxas with the back of my pen. "Roxas, does 'tunnel' have 2 t's or 1?" I asked.

"And were trusting her with the report, why?"

We all turned to see Hayner walking up behind us.

I narrowed my eyes at him, "Mind your own mooglewax, you meanie!" I retorted.

He rolled his eyes and walked right past us. When he passed all of us, I stuck out my tongue, and I saw him holding up 2 fingers.

"Thank you!" I shouted, writing down 2 t's.

He just did a little wave and walked to meet Olette by the waterfall.

"Anyway," Pence said, "You guys need to go in there and see if it's actually ghosts. I'll meet you by the waterfall when you're done." and he walked away, leaving me and Roxas to investigate.

_--!--_

We entered the concourse, and when we reached the end, we saw Vivi standing there.

I waved and started walking to him. "Hiya, Vivi. What're you doing in--" I was cut off, when 3 Vivi clones were weilding struggle hammers. My eyes widened, and I gulped. Roxas got in front of me, weilding the Keyblade.

I shook it off, and sat down by the drains, pen and paper in hand. "Go, Roxas!" I shouted, preparing to writ down every detail of the fight.

_--!--_

The fight went on, and there was just one Vivi after the other! But Roxas finally got rid of them all. Roxas was facing where he fought the Vivi's, while I looked at the enterance. "B-but you were just--!"

Roxas turned, and there was Vivi. I stared at him, with my mouth wide open and pointing to him weakly. "Are you seeing what i'm seeing!?" I asked him.

"Hello Roxas, Ashe." Vivi said, waddling over to us. "What is it guys?" he asked, then brought out a struggle hammer. "Oh, do you guys need this? Planning on getting in some practice, I bet."

"Err, no... it's just that... there were just a million of you..."

I grinned my widest grin and giggled a bit, and punched Roxas on his arm.

Roxas clenched his teeth, trying not to call out in pain. "What was that--?"

"You're too honest! ALL the time!" I told him under my breath.

Vivi just watched us bicker in whispers, until we finally looked at him, re-realizing he had come in.

"Anyway, i'm done with this guys. You can take your time." he said.

I bent down and pat his head. "Aw, thank you Vivi."

Pence walked in as Vivi walked out. "So," he said, "the voice was just Vivi practicing."

Roxas walked closer to Pence, "Listen, there were just a bunch of Vivi clones here a minute ago and--"

In desperation of Roxas blurbing yet again, I jumped on his back, and waved at Pence as though he should forget what Roxas had just said. "Wow, what I wild imagination he has!" I said.

_--!--_

We were walking out, Pence in front of Roxas and I, when we started fighting again. "You could have just said stop, that one really hurt!" he said.

"I have said stop, a million times!" I said back. "But you just don't seem to get that our friends are gonna get involved!"

"How bad could it be?" he said.

I crossed my arms and stuck my nose in the air, "I don't know, Roxas. But I think it's a lot worse than what we're expecting."

He looked down, "Things have been getting really strange around here, lately." he sighed, "Okay, i'll try harder. But still..." and he poked his shoulder, but cringed.

I rubbed it softly, "Sorry..." I said sympathetically. "I won't be so mean next time."

"Thank God." he said, relieved.

I hugged him, "You drama queen!"

_--!--_

We walked around the buildings to the waterfall. "What's next on the map, Pency-poo?" I asked, pinching his cheek.

He laughed, "Would you quit with the weird nicknames?"

I pulled back, and looked up as though there were a halo over my head. "Why, of course, Pence." Is said innocenctly.

"Next is the Doppelganger." he said, pointing to the map. "There's a rumor that you can see another you if you go near the waterfall."

I took out my notebook and started writing. "D-o-p-p-l-e G-a-n-g-r-e..." I spelled aloud to myself. Roxas overheard and laughed.

"Here, let me help." he said, taking my notebook and scratching out my spelling. He handed it back to me, spelled right this time, and I looked up nicely. "Thank yOou!" I said.

Pence walked away and talked to Olette, while Roxas and I went down the steps and down to the waterfall. I walked right up to it.

"Wow!" I said, "My reflection, it's co clear-- it's almost real!" and I touched my face as my doppelganger did the same in the water. Roxas stood behind me, looking at his own. But, only in the water, MY doppelganger had my Keyblade in her hand! She stepped out of the water, and Roxas' did the same.

"Can't we just do our homework?" I asked Roxas sadly.

He shrugged, and I ran to the steps and sat down with my notebook.

"Aren't you going to help?" Roxas asked.

I shook my head. "You can do it! I'm just getting details."

_--!--_

I gotta tell 'ya. Fighting your other self musta' weird. It must be like... you can't beat them, since they're you, and they know all your moves. But Roxas was smarter than his other self-- and mine too!-- and came out on top.

Roxas was flat on his face, because he was so tired, and I ran to him and sat down right next to him, trying to get him to get up.

"Roxas! Ashe!" I heard, and looked up. Pence was running over to us. Roxas stood up and brushed himself off, then looked at me with a smile.

"What happened?" Pence asked.

I looked at Roxas thinking, _'Uh-oh. He's gonna screw it up again.'_ when he actually left me with my mouth hanging open!

"You should have seen it," he started. "Ashe saw her reflection in the waterfall and thought she was drowning, so she got in and tried to save herself. I had to pull her out, but she was panicing so much, I fell in myself. I almost ran out of air, but she pulled me out. I was just catching my breath when you came along."

Pence looked torwards the waterfall and jumped. "Now that's spooky!" he said, "I thought I saw another person there, but it was just my reflection. No wonder you got tricked yourself, Ashe!" and he walked away.

Roxas smiled at me, "See? I'm a good actor." he said, and winked.

I collapsed onto the edge of the waterfall. "Phew!"

He walked over to me to help me up, but I shook my head. "Nah, you go on. I'm gonna chill out for a bit. Take this though, in case you find the 5th wonder." I said, handing him my notebook and my pretty yellow pen.

He shrugged, "Okay. We'll be at Sunset Hill."

He was walking away when I said, "You really suprised me with that alabi!"

Looking back, he smiled, and ran to the hill.

_--!--_

**Roxas' PoV**

This was starting to get really insane. Another me? Vivi clones? Flying spheres? Predicitability was a thing of the past, and i've got to admit, I sort of miss it.

"Hey, Roxas."

Pence was just ahead, holding the wonders map. "What's next on the list?" I asked.

He pointed to the last thing that would be at the terrace. "It's called, 'The Animated Bag'. The rumor going around is that the bag is alive and it runs around on the hill. If Ashe's taking a break, I guess it's up to us!"

I nodded, and wrote down the wonder in Ashe's notebook. Her notes themself were a wonder. I wasn't sure how she could possibly read this, with all of the scribbles every where. She even started doodling hearts and flowers across the page.

I walked up the hill and I saw the bag, it looked pretty normal at first. Then I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned, but there wasn't anyone there. When I turned back around--

"Boo!"

I jumped back. Ashe.

"I thought you were taking a break?" I questioned.

Ashe sighed. "Yeah. I was. But Pence asked me to come up here and buddy up with you, since Hayner is making a big deal about this one new rumor he and Olette heard."

"If that's the case, take this." I said, handing her back her notes. "I'm going to investigate."

She saluted, and ran to the patch of ground with a bench on it and sat down, writing down her precious 'details'.

"Ashe! Look!" I shouted, pointing to the bag. She looked up, and saw what I did-- a bouncing bag!

"G-get it!" she yelled back, vigerously jotting down details and looking up to watch at the same time.

Now I understand why her notes were so sloppy. She was watching all that was happening with my 'investigation'.

When the bag finally gave in, I stood on top of it, trying to see what would make it alive. When I stepped off, a dog ran out.

"Yikes!" I shouted.

Ashe stood and ran to the dog, petting it sensitivley. "Roxas! You didn't hurt him, did you?" she asked sympathetically.

"Oh, it was just a dog." I heard. There was Pence. "You let it out of the sack, Roxas?"

I pointed to Ashe hugging the dog, as if it wasn't obvious I let it out. The dog started walking away from Ashe.

"Bye, bye doggie!" she said, waving to the dog.

"That explains one of the 7 wonders!" said Pence.

Ashe started walking down the hill, "C'mon. Let's go meet Olette and Hayenr at the terrace."

_--!--_

"You know, that last wonder... wasn't exactly wonderful." I said.

"Say no more!" said Pence, "This next one's gonna be great, wonder no. 6!"

We watched as Hayner and Olette finally joined us. "We got another lead!" Hayner exclaimed.

"'The Ghost Train Mystery'!" Olette said.

"Everybody knows about wonder number 6!" Pence explained.

"Yeah, well I didn't." Hayner and I said together.

"Did you find out where the train runs?" I asked.

"You can see it from Sunset Hill."

_--!--_

**Viola! A super-long chapter, WITH Axel in it to make up for my un-updatieness. Cause, you know, everyone loves Axel. . I'll be going to see my dad for the weekend, but expect a new chappie around Tuesday-ish. (Thats when I come back to my mommy's.)**

**Axel's mysterious comment about her true name will make more sense later in the story. That is, if you're not already as confused as a baby in a topless bar. -plot plot- -twist twist-**

**By the way, the title of the chapter, 'Ream'. It just means a quantity of paper that is 480, 500, or 516 sheets. I thought it was appropriate since they're starting to write their tremendous report on the 7 wonders. **

**-Rikku**


	12. Chapter 12: Premonition

_**Silent**__Light__**in**__the__**Darkness**_

_--!--_

Hey everyone! Before the next chapter starts, I _need_ to thank, **Garangel**, **crystalfeathers**, **Spirit of Ryuu**, **December Sky**, **chibihachi**, **Sora4801**, **Mayhem678**, **BittersweetLullabyAi**, **BlackDragonofdarknessflames**, **NeverGoodbyeRoxas**, **-rock et ships**, and **eh.sure.whatever. **for you super nice reviews throughout my story! The prequal will soon come to a close, so R&R please, because those reviews are like crack! You guys are an awesome part of 'Silent Lights in the Darkness' and I hope you still will be in the adventure with Sora, Donald and Goofy when Ashe searches for Roxas in the sequal/story, 'Entity'

THANKS!!!!

_--!--_

We walked to Sunset Hill in... pretty much silence. Ashe got Olette skipping with her, and they kept circling Hayner to annoy him.

Pence and I stayed at the back, watching as Ashe tried (once again) to hook up Hayner and Olette.

She'd been trying all summer to get those two together, but they just won't seem to click. Or rather, Olette is too shy to make it happen, and Hayner's just too stobburn.

When we got to the top, we all watched the tracks for a few moments.

"If the rumors are true, it'll be here any minute." Hayner said

Pence leaned forward as if telling us all a secret. "For they say the train is empty. No driver, no conductor, no passengers, NO RETURN."

Ashe giggled and rested her elbow on my shoulder, "And I thought Roxas had a wild imagination!" she said, bobing her head torwards me.

I lay on my stomach and Ashe kept whispering random things in my ear like,

"Taste the rainbow."

"I love red cap milk."

"Nice shoes, wanna fuck?"

"Save the ta-ta's."

And other crap like that. It was pretty funny, cause I would start laughing quietly, and only Ashe would know why, then she'd start giggling, and Hayner, Pence and Olette stared at us like we were crazy.

After about 10 minutes, Olette spoke up. "We've gotta make it to the beach next year." she said, not taking her eyes off of the tracks.

"Yeah, we better get jobs the second vacation starts." Hayner agreed.

"Good afternoon, slackers."

I looked as Ashe's head slumped and she sighed. "Douche bag..." she whispered.

"What are you doing out here?" Seifer asked.

Hayner gave him the evil glare of eternal Doom. "What do you care?" he retorted.

"I don't," said Seifer, "tell me anyway."

Ashe turned around and sat indian style, giving him the same evil glare as Hayner. "Keep your big fat nose in your own business, 'Mr. Dicipline'." she said, rolling her eyes and using air quotes.

Seifer walked up to her delicately, "Still not knowing how far above you I am, eh Ashe? You'll learn eventually." he said, caressing her cheek. She tried to bite his finger, and then turned her head viciously away. She leaned against me and reflected upon Seifer's touching her face.

"Now tell me what you're doing here before I wipe the entire terrace with your face." he threatened.

Ashe pretended to shiver, "Ooh... real scary." she said sarcastically.

"We're waiting for the ghost train." Pence said.

"'Waiting for the ghost train.'" repeated Seifer, and he laughed mockingly.

Ashe slammed her fist down, but I put my hand over her's to keep her down and stood in their defence. Seifer and I stared each other down for a few moments.

"Why does looking at you always tick me off?" Seifer asked threateningly.

"I don't know," I replied, giving him the same unforgiving look, "maybe it's destiny."

"Destiny?" he repeated, more like a question. "In that case, let's be friends." He turned dramatically torwards the town. "I don't feel like cooperating with destiny."

"Wow, what a rebellious, lose-cannon teenager on the edge with a dark past who doesn't play by the rules." I heard Ashe mumble. I couldn't help but laugh a little.

"When have you ever 'cooperated' with anything?" Hayner shot back.

Seifer looked back torwards us, and hit his chest before giving a small chuckle and walking away.

"Seifer?" Olette called.

"I know," he replied, "tomorrow."

I stared at him angrily as he walked away, my anger slowly but surely swelling down.

"Hey, guys!"

We looked back at Ashe who was looking over the fence. She was pointing to the train!

"Look!" I exclaimed as I ran up to the fence right next to her, not really believing what I was seeing. It passed right under us into the tunnel and heading to the station. "So it's true!" I turned torwards my friends. "And there's really no one aboard! What's the catch? There's gotta be a catch, right?"

It was silent, as they looked at each other confused. They must not have believed it, either.

"Then it's real??" I asked excitedly, turning to Ashe.

She grinned, "It's as real as real gets!"

"Let's go to the station!"

_--!--_

Ashe was ahead of me a little bit, but I could tell that Hayner, Pence and Olette were way far behind us. Maybe me and Ashe were really the only ones in awe about the paranormal train that ran by itself? Naw, can't be.

She beat me to the station, but jumped eagerly when I was in sight again, "C'mon, c'mon!" she said, grinning.

I smiled back, and waited for Hayner, Pence and Olette. They finally got up, and Ashe was already attempting to open the door.

"Let's go insi--" I was cut off by Hayner running right past me to grab Ashe and pull her back.

"H-hey! Hayner, what're you--" Ashe squealed, looking up at Hayner about as confused as I was.

Hayner looked hesitant to tell us, "Um, you'll get hurt." he said, a little concerned.

"What?" I asked, looking back at the train.

Too bad it was gone.

"Huh?" I asked myself.

"W-where'd the train go!?" Ashe shreiked, grabbing her hair.

"The train will be arriving shortly." we heard over the intercom.

Not even a second later, the train from the beach came roaring into the station. People began walking out, and me and Ashe stared intently at our disappearing magic train.

"C'mon." Pence said sadly.

"A train came from the beach." I stated as-a-matter-of-factly. "There was no driver, right?" I asked them.

They were silent.

"Right?" I asked Olette. She stepped back a little, shaking her head 'no'.

Hayner growled, and pushed me into the train.

Olette took Ashe's hand gently and coaxed her into the train like a lost puppy.

Pence walked in, shaking his head.

"B-but I saw!" Ashe said, "I swear on my life, Roxas and I have not been smoking the magic dragon!"

The doors closed and we headed for home.

_--!--_

Hayner stormed out of the station once we were back in town. "Let's go home and work on the paper." he said.

"'The rumors were bogus. The end.'" Pence replied, sounding a little angry himself.

"That pretty much hits the hammer on the nail, Pence. That's all I got down for a summary!" Ashe said, showing Pence the paper that literally said, 'The rumors were bogus. The end.'

"We can still make it sound good if we write about all the work we did." Olette said, trying to look on the bright side of our downer day.

I stopped, "But what about the last one? The Seventh wonder?" I asked.

Ashe turned and smiled, giving me a look like, 'Hey! Now I remember there's more than 6!' She nodded, as though she wanted to know as well.

"Who cares!?" Hayner said, stomping his left foot down angrily.

"I do." I said, "C'mon Pence."

"Whatever." Hayenr said, and walked away without looking back at us.

"Hayner..." Ashe said sadly, trying to get him to come back.

Olette turned to me as if disappointed that I made Hayner mad. "Roxas," she said.

Pence sighed, "It's at the haunted mansion." he replied, turning and running away with Olette.

I put my head down, upset all my friends were mad at me. I heard Ashe's delicate footsteps (Well, not really delicate, since she drags her feet like an elephant) coming over for comfort me. "Hey," she said gently, "Wanna come over to my house? We can have ice cream." she said, trying to sound convincing.

I looked up a little, smiling so she wouldn't hurt too bad. "Nah," I said sadly, "I think i'm just gonna... walk." and I slowly walked away.

She reached her hand out, trying to get me to go with her, but I was more concerned about that last wonder.

When I looked back at her, she was still just standing there, looking out to the town and the purple and orange horizon.

I was off to the mansion.

_--!--_

**Ashe's PoV**

The sky seemed so harmless. Out of everything that's happened, it's the only thing in this town that hasen't changed or been effected in the least.

I watched as Roxas turned the corner, and then a pain shot through my head. I was seeing in all... negative. Everything was it's colors opposite. The entire sky went from a beautiful orange, pink and purple twilight, to a dark, cold unfeeling black and cerulean sky. I looked down at my hands, they were now a very dark navy blue like the rest of my skin. White was black, black was white.

"What's happening...?" I whispered fearfully. I shuffled backward a little, having a little trouble comtemplating what was actually going on.

And what happened next... almost scared me shitless.

I was myself, running around the front of the station. I looked like I was... crying? And yelling.

I heard no sound, all I knew was I was yelling for someone.

Then, my town I knew like the back of hand, was transformed into a big black room. (A/N: The room is only black in her vision. Remember, she can only see negatives! Think about it.) There was a cucoon-like pod in the middle, and the edges of the room looked like black fog.

I saw myself again. And Roxas was there, too. Why was I yelling at him? He was just looking up at the pod.

**"Roxas!!"** The other me screamed. Even I stepped back, not knowing I could even reach the decibal.

**"If you do it, i'll never forgive you!"**

My eyes widened. Never forgive him? How could I never forgive him for something? He's saved my life twice before.

Once, when they found me.

And twice, when we all were screwing around at the river. We climbed on the bluffs, I think they're called, and I almost fell into the river. That current would have sucked me under in nothing flat, but Roxas caught me at the last second.

In addition, he was my best friend. How can you not forgive your best friend?

Astral Ashe, as I decided to call her, then ran to Roxas and hugged him from behind. Even I got a kick out of that. It almost seemed obvious, that I was beginning to like Roxas. Well, i've always liked Roxas since he's my buddy-buddy. But I mean, LIKE him. Some things have been happening lately, and and it's like... we share each other's eyes, you know?

Anyway, I was beginning to sound like a lovesick puppy. It's just a crush, right?

The pod started opening, and Roxas put his arm around my waist. I started saying something, but I was too far away and Astral Ashe was too quiet for me to hear. He responded, and they each said one more thing before... I looked, and a person was in the pod. And he looked alot like Roxas.

An enormous pain went through my head again, and I screamed. Rather I tried to scream, but no sound came out. It was kinda cool, if I didn't feel like my head was being impaled on a stick.

I shut my eyes tight and fell to my knees. When I opened them, I was back in Twilight Town, right where I was before I saw my negative dream.

Dream...

_'Oh, God.'_ I thought, _'I need to talk to Axel. Soon.'_

I looked around, finally realizing I was by myself. "Oh!... Roxas?"

_--!--_

**A rather short chapter, but I thought it was appropriate since it was Ashe's FIRST ever premonition! Wo0t!**

**R&R because I said so! hee hee.**

**Yes, yes, the sequal I have already named and got the beginning started. 'Entity'. And it's gonna be great! I don't wanna give too much away, but I guess i'm already cruel for telling you the about the sequal i've already started when this one isn't even done. Hey! The game goes on! You've seen it!**

**-Rikku**


	13. Chapter 13: Bomb

_**Silent**__Lights__**in**__the__**Darkness**_

"You know something..."

I jumped, and turned to see Ashe walking up behind me, her eyes on the mansion the whole time.

"Pence told me we were going to check the mansion out tomorrow. It is the most suspicious place." she said, looking over at me and giving me a small smile. She looked back up to a window on the second floor.

"Right..." I said, looking down.

She leaned down to try to look in my eyes, "Even Seifer was gonna help." she said.

I looked at her in disbeleif, "Seifer!?"

Her head sunk in her shoulders, gave me an it-wasn't-my-idea-and-it's-been-put-in-my-hands-to-break-it-to-you look, and shrugged. "But what's even worse, it's that Hayner asked him to!" she said, clenching her fists, and pretending to punch Hayner.

I was quiet, but then asked, "So, what're we looking for?"

She grinned, and pointed to the window on the second floor she was examining earlier. It was the one on the left. "The rumor is, that there's a girl you can see in the second floor window. Even though no one has lived her forever."

I looked up, and watched carefully for a girl.

"You know," said Ashe, "it... sort of reminded me of Namine."

"Ashe."

I heard Namine's voice, and the next thing I knew, Ashe looked like she'd seen a ghost. She gasped, and looked straight ahead.

Then, we were in this, weird white room...

_--!--_

**Ashe-Namine's PoV**

W-what's going on?

_It's okay, Ashe. It's just me._

Why... are you in my body? HOW are you in my body!?

_I'm using it for a little while. I can't be seen, and... you and Roxas have to know._

Namine?

_Don't worry. Nothing bad will happen to you. Just... some heartache. When you know the truth._

_--!--_

**Ashe's PoV**

Namine was inside my body. It's like... she's a ghost, or something. More like a wonder. How does she know so much?

"Roxas..." I said. Well, not really _I_ said, but Namine said, using my voice. Her voice sounded like to was combined with mine. It was funny, since I never knew how soft and delicate my voice could be. Except, ya know, when I was serious. But when did that ever happen?

In the black room with the pod... when I told Roxas I wouldn't forgive him. And, when i'm alone with him, I guess I talk pretty seriously. It's weird, how differently he makes me act.

"Namine?" Roxas said, turning back to us.

"Oh, Ashe." he said, walking over to me. His eye caught a picture. "This is... me? And Axel's here, too. And... who's that?" he asked, pointing to another person who was from behind, sticking their head between his and Axel's shoulders and holding onto their outside hands.

"Me." Namine had me say, with her gentle smile.

"You?" he asked, taking a good look at the drawing. "This is you, Ashe? But... it doesn't look like you." he said.

"That's because... i'm different than I was before." Namine stuttered from behind my eyes.

Roxas seemed confused, but looked on. "But Axel's here, too..." he said, voice trailing off.

"You ARE best friends." I said with extra emphasis.

He laughed a bit, "Very funny."

"Don't you wanna know the truth," said I, "about who you really are?"

Roxas shook his head when he spoke, "No one knows me better than me."

"Of course." I said, smiling Namine's sad smile.

"But..." Roxas started. "I don't get what's been happening lately."

"You know these three, don't you?" I asked.

"Yeah..." said Roxas. He seemed, a bit hesitant what with all that was going on. "Sora, Donald and Goofy. They're from the dreams."

"About a year ago, some things happened. And I had to take apart the memories chained together in Sora's heart. But now, I'm putting them all back exactly the way they were. It's taken me a long time, but pretty soon, Sora will be his old self again." Namine explained. She seemed a bit sad, about that Sora boy... "The process has been effecting you too, Roxas."

"You mean... the dreams?" he asked.

"Yes." I answered flatly. "You and Sora are connected."

Roxas stared at me strangely. "Ashe?" he whispered.

I walked closer to him, "And... in order for Sora to become completely whole again..." I took his hand on my own free will and looked at him straight in the eyes. "He needs you."

"Me?" he asked, "What for?"

"You hold half of what he is." I said, looking down and closing my eyes tight. I didn't want to say these things I didn't know to him. I had no control of the words, and I couldn't even think of them before they came out of my mouth. But at the same time, those words were floating aimlessly around in my head. But Namine, was making me piece them all together myself. I opened my eyes and looked into his, "He needs you."

What I didn't know, was that he wasn't looking into _my_ eyes. The ones he were seeing... were a glowing azure haze. He moved closer to my face, squinting his eyes. When he pulled back, he didn't say 'Ashe'. He said,

"Namine?"

_--!--_

We were sitting across from each other on a long white table, in a big white room. I wasn't seeing in negatives again, because Roxas' colors were completely normal.

"Namine... who are you?" he asked.

I held up my hand, "Please," Namine said for me, "keep calling me Ashe. It would be best... if some people didn't know where Namine was..."

"But still, who are you?" he asked again.

"I'm a witch." she answered. "With power over Sora's memories and those around him."

"A witch?" asked Roxas.

I put my hand on my chest, "That's what DiZ called me..." I said. "But... I don't know why I have this power. I just do. I'm not even sure if there's a right way for me to use it."

"Hmm..." Roxas said, and shook his head, smiling, "I can't help you there."

I closed my eyes and returned the smile, giving a small laugh.

"It's funny... suddenly I feel like... I don't know myself at all." he said, more seriously than when he started. "I guess I would like to know. What do you know about me, that I don't?"

"You..."

_No._

I tried to make her not say those words. That would kill him, who wants to know that--

"You were never supposed to exist, Roxas." she said.

I looked down and closed my eyes, Namine holding back my tears for me. In my head, I saw her upset, too.

"...What?" he asked, staring at me. "How could you even say such a thing? Even if it were true?"

_Give me back my heart._

"I'm sorry..." I said, taking back my own voice, a single tear falling down my face. "I guess some things really are better left unsaid." and I casually wiped my tear away.

He tried to look for my face, but I think I would've rather stayed there with my head down forever, than have him see me cry. I even regretted having Hayner see me cry. Just imagine if Roxas...

_--!--_

"Roxas! Roxas!!" I shouted, trying to get his attention. I snapped in front of his face, since he was still mezmerized by that window.

"Hunh?" he asked, looking down at me.

"Did you see her!?" I asked excitedly, "Did you see Namine??"

"Yeah." he said, and he pointed to the left second floor window. "Watch the window-- closely."

It was quiet while we examined the mysterious Namine window. "I don't... I don't see her anymore!" I pouted, and Roxas watched me as I spun around really fast and sat down indian style.

"She's right--!" Roxas was pointing to the window excitedly behind him. He seemed disappointed when he looked back. "not there..." he said, joining me on the ground. I was playing with a snail when he sat down.

"Well, I guess we should head back to the usual spot. Everyone's already there waiting for us." I said, picking up my snail and setting him in my palm. "But first..." I said, "Ice cream?"

He smiled as I offered him my free hand, "Okay. We'll get some ice cream."

_--!--_

"Hey guys, how'd it go?" Olette asked as we walked in, holding Confetti Cake ice cream bars, since Roxas and I had eaten all of my Sea Salt ices the day before...

"We thought we saw her," Roxas said, looking at me with a big grin.

"But it turned out to be a curtain flapping in the wind." I finnished, looking back at him. We both smiled, and looked at Pence and Olette, who were a bit confused themselves. "I was suprised a place that old even had curtains!" I said.

"Must've been a draft, or something making it move." said Roxas.

We both laughed, and our friends looked at us as if we were crazy. Making jokes about an old house with flapping curtains? Lame-o.

"Well, I firgured as much. The report's already done!" Olette said, giving my notebook back. "Though with those notes, it wasn't easy."

I smiled and showed her a peace sign with my fingers. "We cut down the poor trees for paper, so you need to use all of it to make sure their lives aren't wasted!" I said.

Roxas tried to hold in a laugh, but a snort came out his nose as he looked at me.

I elbowed him playfully, and Olette spoke up for the sake of her and Pence's sanity. "So, wanna go find Hayner?" she suggested.

"Hm, not really." I said, rocking back and fourth on my heels.

Pence crossed his arms. "Hey, I thought you said that you made up with Hayner?"

I stopped and looked around. "I knooow..." I said in a little kid voice, "but that doesn't mean I don't like fighting with him. Doesn't it sound weird when we aren't fighting?" I asked.

"No," Roxas answered, "It _sounds_ peaceful. But more quiet than peaceful, since you aren't talking for once." he joked. Olette and Pence laughed.

"Buuuurn!" Pence cried.

"You're one to talk!" I said, putting my hands on my hips and staring at Roxas. "Remember the first summer I came here and you were obsessed where I came from? You would constantly ask me about where I was from, even though I never remembered! Around you, I never got a moments peace."

"Hey, hey, hey!" he said, pretending to be cross with me by wagging his finger. "That was a long time ago. Curious Roxas is dead... like chivalry, because I kicked your butt in the Struggle and won us the awesome crystals!" he shot back.

I snapped my fingers, and my diamond orb appeared in my palm. "Got me there."

"Whoa!" Pence and Roxas said, staring at my hand.

"How'd you do that?" Pence asked.

Olette just laughed, since she knew my secret.

"It's what you learn when you watch Criss Angel." I said, showing my crystal to my adoring audience. "You know, I can levitate a cup, too."

Olette smiled and rolled her eyes as Pence cried, "Levitate it!?"

"You know, we only have 2 more days left together." said Olette.

"Huh?" asked Roxas, a bit confused.

"Summer vacation, remember?"

I elbowed Roxas and smiled. "Don't tell me you thought we were on Spring break this whole time!"

"Oh, right." he said.

"C'mon guys, let's to go and get Hayner. He's probably at the station." Olette said.

Pence started stuttering and looking at my hand, "B-but I wanna see Ashe leviatate something!" Olette giggled and pushed him out of the usual spot like Hayner pushed Roxas into the train.

When they left, Roxas looked at me as I was rocking on my heels again. "You put your thumb in the back of a styrofoam cup and shove it in people's faces, don't you?" he asked.

I started walking and he followed, "A magician never reveals her secrets." I said, putting my index finger to my lips.

"But yeah, you're right."

_--!--_

Just like Olette predicted, Hayner was at the station tower. I knew those two were meant for each other!

I came up from behind him, and took his ice cream and took a lick. It was a Sea Salt ice! How could I resist? I handed it back to him and sat down. "What's up?" I asked, wiping my mouth.

He glared at me, but then smiled and put me in a head lock with his ice-cream holding arm. "Just admiring our excellent summer vacation!" he replied, as I tried to remove my head from his arm. When I got loose, I scuttled back, and I pushed Olette to where I was sitting so she'd be next to Hayner. Pence took the spot next to her, and I took my usual spot by Roxas.

"Tomorrow we search the town." Hayner said,

Pence kicked a rock off of the tower and watch it fall. "Next day's the fair."

"The last day of summer!" Olette said, sadly crossing her arms.

"Don't say that!" Hayner said to her, "You'll give me an ulcer!"

"Not if you explode from all the ice cream first." Pence said.

We all laughed when we saw Hayner stop eating his ice cream, and Olette and Pence laughed even harder when he tossed it to me. I looked at Roxas, and he looked pretty sad. What was going on with him?

_--!--_

"Why did you show them the train?" the man in black, Ansem, said.

"Because they missed the trip to the beach." the one in red bandaged said.

"Hmm." said Ansem, "that's almost kind of you."

"Now... what about you?" he asked Ansem. "Are the holes in yur memory starting to fill in?"

"Yes. The haze is clearing." Ansem said, walking to a seat across from the red man.

"The same thing is happening to everyone who's had ties to Sora. Soon, to them, he'll be like a friend who's gone away for a year." the red man explained.

Ansem took a seat. "I've waited and now I want to know. What is it that you want?" he asked.

The red man looked up and Ansem seriously. "Revenge."

"Revenge..." Ansem repeated.

"Now for the finnishing touches." the red man said, getting Ansem's attention again. "We must dispose of Namine. She's done a splendid job with Sora but it's high time she disappeared. Roxas isn't the only one who wasn't supposed to exist. Take care of it Ansem." he said.

"You mean ----?" Ansem stepped back once, confused as to why he couldn't say that particular name.

The red man stopped Ansem from talking by holding up his hand. "You can't say it yet." he said. "I'm afraid that name has been stolen for data for the Organization's gain. But do not worry, you'll say it again eventually." and laughed a bit.

Ansem was silent. "I understand. I'll get her, too."

_--!--_

_"Take care of her."_

_--!--_

**"You... you saved me?"**

_"Y-yeah. I guess I did..."_

**"Thank you."**

_"Don't mention it. I'm Roxas, and don't worry, i'll take care of you."_

_--!--_

**"Why? Why do you have the Keyblade!?"**

_"Shut up."_

**"Roxas, don't!"**

_--!--_

_"What are you doing ----?"_

**"Stop fighting, Roxas. Don't you want to be together forever?"**

_"Are you-- are you crying?"_

**"I don't know why... but you can make me **_**feel**_**. I'm whole when I'm around you."**

_"----?"_

_--!--_

"Roxas!"

I shot up in my bed, and I wiped my forehead. I looked over, and Axel looked at me like he enjoyed watching me squirm.

"It's about time you woke up." he said, standing up from my yellow pod chair that he liked so much.

"I..." I pulled my knees up to my chest and hugged them tightly. "I know you, don't I?" I asked.

He scratched the side of his head with his chakrams and raised an eyebrow. "Well, i've been talking to you all week. If you don't recognize me, i'm gonna be really sad."

I shook my head. "No, no! I mean... in a place other than here. Somewhere far away... we were friends, right?"

He looked straight into my eyes completely amazed. "So you really do know? How did you learn that so quickly? You're premoni-"

I cut him off, "Oh yeah! I think I might've had a premonition yesterday." I told him.

He seemed to have mellowed out, a guy like him has to keep his cool, right? "You don't say, eh?" he said, putting his finger on his chin. "Maybe you do remember."

"Remember what?" I asked, taking the covers off of my body and turning torwards Axel.

"If you see something when you look at this, it's in the back of your mind somewhere." he said, tossing me a tall crown-shaped card.

I caught it, and looked at it. It was of Roxas and I, but I had my hair up. No wonder Roxas didn't recognize me in Namine's picture. I've always worn my hair down, but in this black coat I look completely--

"Ah--!"

That pain, the one in my head. It was happening again!

A premonition!

And then, the negative vision appeared.

I looked around my room, and I got off of my bed slowly. I was afraid if I moved too fast, I might lose it.

I looked at Axel and he looked as though he had chuckled. He looked at me and said something, but I couldn't tell what he was saying. His lips were moving but no sound came out.

Does reality not exist through premonitions? Every sound I make, or someone else makes, I can't hear it. Could it be that I can only hear and see what's going to happen? Or in this case what's already happend? This consequence of being born... under a star? Axel was just making things difficult for me--

Roxas?

I saw Roxas, and he was in that long black coat like in the picture. He looked at me, and smiled. "How's it going?" he asked.

I looked around, just checking if he was talking to me, and I pointed to myself.

He nodded, "Yeah, you. Who else would I be talking to?"

"I could be better."

If Axel wasn't right behind me I would've passed out. (A/N: really, who want to pass out in front of Axel? he might end up raping you or stealing all of your stuff. plus he'd hold it against you for the rest of your life XD.)

Did another me just walk out of my own body??

"I could be whole. It sucks not to be able to feel, ya know?" Astral me said to Roxas.

He walked closer to the other me, "It's fine. I know the feeling."

Astral me gave a small laugh. "Oh yeah, I wanted to tell you something." she said.

Roxas crossed his arms, "Shoot."

She looked down, and fidgeted with her fingers much like Namine. "Well, not that you'll know why for a while, but... I'm sorry."

"Huh?" he asked. "C'mon now, why are you apologizing?" he asked. "Zero, did you have another permonition?" and he put his hands on his sides, realizing why she looked sad.

She smiled, "Well, Roxas," she said mimicking him by putting her hands on her hips. "We'll be lucky enough to be nobodys who can _feel_. At least for a little bit." she explained.

"You serious?" he asked.

She nodded. "We might have to wait a little while, though. We aren't allowed to right now. But when the time is close, i'll tell you."

He smiled, "This is great, Zero!" he exclaimed.

She shook her head, "But you want to be whole, too, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, of course." he answered.

"That's good to hear, cause if you weren't going to be, I wasn't either." she said, walking to the side of him.

"Don't say that," he said, "We'll have to get seperated eventually, if we're going to meet our original selves."

She giggled, "You don't know that. Maybe we'll be together forever!" she cried.

He smiled and shook his head, "We can only hope. Well, as close as we can get to hoping, that is."

They both laughed, and looked at each other for a second.

"But, what's the apology for?" he asked.

She sighed, "Well, sometime in the furture, when we can feel, I might lie to you. And I'm really regreting it."

"Don't worry," he said, "if I don't know you're lying, how can I be mad at you? Besides, I'm not even sure if I can be mad at you. If anything it would be disapointment."

"That's even worse..." she said, looking down at her feet.

Then, they both started talking, but when they realized the other one was talking, they stopped, and started and stopped again. (Know the feeling?)

"You go first." Roxas ended up saying uninterrupted.

Astral me looked around to make sure no one was around. Then she swallowed, and before I knew it, she took a deep breath and took the sides of Roxas' face and pulled him in for a kiss!

"Whoa!" I shouted, and stumbled back when I saw that. I saw Axel sitting in my pod chair again, laughing at me falling. I backed up against my bed, but I phased right through it. I pulled myself upright and sat on my heels, staring at the two in extreme disbelief. When I looked back at Astral and Roxas, she was pulling away.

Her head sunk in her neck and she shrugged, "Sorry..."

He was silent. He was just staring at her, eyes wide open.

"Xaya?"

When I looked around, everything was fading back to their normal colors, and Roxas and Astral were disappearing.

"Oh, you're starting to come back." I heard Axel say, but it was pretty muffled.

When all signs of my premonition were gone, I was still wide eyed at what had just happened.

Axel got up and looked at me confused, as if I had seen a ghost. He offered me his hand. "I didn't think you'd freak out that badly. So, what did you see?" he asked.

I shook my head violently, "N-no way! No one will ever know about that, ever!" I said, blushing feverishly.

"My God, girl." he said. "I didn't mean to freak you out that bad."

"It's okay..." I said.

He raised an eyebrow, "I never said I was sorry. I just said I never meant to freak you out."

I sighed, since I should have seen that coming.

"But anyway, did you see it?" he asked.

"See what?" I asked. "There were ALOT of things going on in there." I said, pointing to my head.

"Did you hear a certain name? Did someone close to you say a weird name, or something?" he kept asking, sounding more and more hopeful as I was thinking.

"He did say one thing..."

"What? What was it!?" he asked, shaking his fists up and down.

"He kept calling me Zero. Is that like, some nickname or something?" I asked.

Axel's enthusiasm faded, but he was still pretty happy. "Well, at least you know that." he said. "Better than nothing." He was starting to walk to my window. "Don't expect any special treatment anymore, the next time we meet, we're enemies."

I reached out for him, "What? Enemies? But we're friends, remember?" I asked, hoping he would stop.

"Of course I remember!" I yelled angrily. He turned back to me, "When you, Roxas and I were all friends, it was the best time of my life. But then _he_ came along and he spoiled everything for all of us! I only regret he's the only thing holding us together..."

I stared at Axel sadly, wishing I hadn't said anything. "I'm sorry, Axel. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings..."

He still looked pretty mad, but his face lightened, "If I had any, maybe I could accept that. Unfortunatly, I can't." He put his foot on the window and waited to step out.

"..."

"Well!?" He said, whipping around.

I slumped back innocently, "Well, what?" I asked, hurt.

"Whenever I'm about to leave you always say or ask something to get me to stay for a little bit." he said. He was beginning to cool down.

"I already did..." I said, "and it make you mad at me..."

He put his foot off of the window sill and sat down on the edge of my bed. "C'mere." he said, waving me over to him.

I was hesitant at first to go, but I eventually walked over and stood right in front of him. Out of nowhere he lifted me and set me on his lap. "...Ashe." he said disappointed, "you're one of my best friends. I always saw you... as a little sister. We were such good friends, I thought that I should look after you. You get my back i'll get yours and all of that..." he said, scratching the back of his head.

"Axel?" I said, confused as to why he was ranting about our old friendship.

"A-Anyway..." he continued. "You, Roxas and I were the greatest team ever... but you guys... were special. More special than anyone in the Organization. You and Roxas were connected. And you guys, you knew who your other halves were. It made me really worried, that you would leave me alone. But you never did, and that had me thinking we'd be incomplete together. Instead, we were all seperated." he explained. "But, there's this guy, and he brought you and Roxas together so you would be able to become whole soon. Ya see..." he sighed. "You know what? Forget it. You can figure it out on your own. How am I supposed to help someone who can't even remember their own name?" I got up off his lap since he was standing up.

"But I _know_ my name, Axel!" I shouted back.

"Yeah right." he said, "You don't remember anything. The Organization, nobodies, Sora, or... just shut up, okay?" he said, beginning to leave.

"My name is Xaya! I don't know why I told Roxas and my friends that Ashe was my name, but there was a voice in the back of my head telling me not to tell them my real one! And you know what? It sounded a lot like Namine! Ever since those photos were stolen I've been getting weird dreams, and seeing things that aren't really there, and..."

After I ceased my explosion, Axel was looking at me wide-eyed and bushy-tailed. (Well, bushy-haired, but whatever)

"Why can't I read my heart...?"

Axel smiled. "I missed you, Xy." he said. "Someday soon, this'll all make sense. And you're going to be really happy when you find your other half."

"But..." I said, "My heart is mine. I don't want to share it with anyone else."

Axel laughed, "Oh, I beg to differ." he said. "I know for a fact that you like Roxas. And I also know you'd be more than happy to share your heart with _him_. But before you try to share it, you'll have to gain it."

I sighed, "... My heart, isn't real?" I asked.

"Let's just say, it's artificial. Think of it this way-- your original self is still only half without you, too." he smiled.

I smiled too, before looking at him a little more seriously. "But, why do we have to be enemies? I like us being friends." I said.

He shook his head, "It won't be that way for long." he said. "I'm actually trying to help you find your other half. Roxas' too." he said. He sat on the window sill, and looked out onto the forest. I stuck my head out of the window by his shoulder. "Pretty soon, we'll all be together again." he said.

"And it'll be just like old times, right? It's gonna be even better when I remember those times. I'll remember them, right?" I said, looking at him and the scenery at the same time.

He nodded, "Namine's sure to help you if you ask her." He jumped from my window and onto a tree branch and sat down on it while I took a seat on my window. "One more thing..." he said, with a teasing smirk, "if you want to be with Roxas soon, with all your feelings for him still in tact, follow him. The looks might decieve you, but where he goes- you go, got it?" he said, pointing to his head.

I nodded.

"Commit it to memory." he said, and jumped up into the trees.

I sat on my window for a few more minutes, just watching as my friend leaped away through the trees. I smiled as the rays of morning light gleamed through the branches.

From there, I knew my adventure had begun.

_--!--_

**oOohh... twisty! Bet you didn't see that coming!! But then again, you might have. Since i'm really no good at being discreet.**

**Name change. Xaya is pronounced (Eye-uh) with a 'Z' at the beginning. And you all must know that the nobodies in the Organization's names have an 'X' in them, right? Well, Ashe's/Xaya's name will make more sense in the last chapters. It's a pretty awesome twist if I do say so myself. ha ha!**

**Also, very sorry for the not-update. It was kind of hard to work and remember the story, since I lost my notes of the original plot in the packing. . uh-oh! but it's okay, since I wrote a new one while I was camping. For a whole week. It was miserable. I suggest NEVER doing that.**

**Thank you sooo much for the reviews! I almost cried when I saw my simple 28 reviews shoot all the way up to 43-ish when I logged in the next day! You guys are nice. And look for a review from ME on one of your own stories soon!**

**-Rikku the half.**


	14. With Love: Me

Chapter Nothing:

Heeey. everyone.

My last update in- which I think was July- will be my last for Silent Lights in the Darkness.

For a number of reasons:

1. Strangely, I feel I can do better.

2. I'm also feeling i've confused myself too much making it.

3. I switched things around alot because I never really went back and read where I left off.

4. Didn't you guys get confused at all?

5. Computer time has been very limited since summer ended--and I started high school.

6. I think I came on a little too strongly. I'm not sure about what exactly, but I still think I did...

7. I like this number.

8. I had to change my story around alot, since i'm not really good at deciding on one solid plot. (But next time I PROMISE to stick with one and only one!)

But yeah.

I think all my reasons are pretty sweet.

Understand?

While I love all of you and you're pretty reviews, I'm throwing this story away and starting anew. I've gotten alot better at writing and being discreet. yay for me!

If you want to see the new one (which will have alot of the same stuff, but awesomer-ness) you can check it out by my birthday. 9/24.

At least, I should have it done by then...

I'll do my best.

Since procrastinating is getting on my nerves.

I love you.

-**me.**


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